World Cup Rugby
The most prestigious Rugby game played every four years is for the World Cup. The World Cup is called the William Webb Ellis Cup because he is the founder of the game of Rugby. To determine who gets to play in the World Cup game, various qualifying tournaments are held. This narrows the possible World Cup teams down to twenty teams from all over the world. The teams play against each other based on their overall ranking. The series of games leading up to the World Cup final game is about one month.
More than two million people come to watch the World Cup Rugby games take place, and the numbers continue to grow as the enthusiasm surrounding the game and the competition intensifies. While the World Cup has only been in place since 1987 it has already become the third largest sporting event in the world. As the popularity of the World Cup continues more countries are sending their teams to compete.
The first Word Cup series took place in Australia and New Zealand. There were sixteen teams there to compete for the title. New Zealand came away with the victory of the first Rugby World Cup. The 1991 Word Cup was held in the United Kingdom with the same sixteen teams competing. This time Australia was the victor.
The 1995 World Cup was held in South Africa as they had returned to the sport of Rugby. The final game was one that received lots of media coverage as it went into over time and South Africa winning in the end over New Zealand. However, there was a great deal of controversy surrounding the win as the players from New Zealand claimed they were all poisoned the night before the big game.
The 1999 World Cup found the number of teams had increased to twenty. While everyone predicted Australia would win the World Cup this year, it was believed they would play New Zealand in the final game. Australia did win the World Cup but their competitor in the final game was France.
The 2003 World Cup games saw the most people attend such activities, with the attendance rate slightly over 2 million people. The final game was Australia against England with Australia greatly favored. England walked away with the win though and a score of 20 to 17. The 2007 World Cup games will be held in September in France.
