Rugby World Cup Trivia

• Prior to the 1987 Rugby World Cup, the United States was technically the reigning international champion, having taken the gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics rugby tournament.
• Four teams have won the Rugby World Cup in the six tournaments played to date. This is an impressive reflection of how competitive rugby is at the highest level, given that only seven teams have won the Football World Cup in eighteen tournaments.
• 750,000 fans gathered to welcome the victorious England team back to England after the 2003 Rugby World Cup. This is recognised as the biggest sporting celebration in English history.
• An estimated cumulative television audience of 300 million people watched the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. By 2007 this number had grown to over 4 billion, with the tournament attracting unprecedented interest in Eastern Europe, South America and Asia.
• Neither Australia nor South Africa has ever lost in a World Cup Final. France, on the other hand, has made two appearances in the Rugby World Cup final, losing on both occasions.
• There have only been two drawn matches in the history of the Rugby World Cup, one involving France and Scotland in 1987 and another between Canada and Japan in 2007.
• Johnny Wilkinson, England’s game-winning fly-half in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, is the only player in Rugby World Cup history to have scored points in two World Cup finals.
• While the Football World Cup has its famous ‘Hand of God’ incident, the 2003 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal between England and South Africa produced the ‘Boot of God’ incident, with Jannie de Beer scoring a record 5 drop-goals for South Africa in the match.
• The All Blacks proved to be not only expert rugby players, but also expert conspiracy theorists, after the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. The All Blacks blamed their loss on a devious South African plot to poison the whole team.
• One of the recipients of a winner’s medal for Australia at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, Tiaan Strauss, had captained South Africa earlier on in his rugby career.
• Brian Lima holds the record for most appearances at the Rugby World Cup, having played in 5 of the 6 Rugby World Cup tournaments held to date.
• New Zealand’s Michael Jones scored the opening try of the match at both the 1987 and 1991 Rugby World Cups.