The 2023 Rugby World Cup (French: Coupe du monde de rugby 2023) was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game and final took place at the Stade de France, north of Paris. The tournament was held in the bicentenary year of the purported invention of the sport by William Webb Ellis.[2]
The tournament was scheduled to last six weeks, but in February 2021 World Rugby added a week to provide additional rest days for player welfare. This meant that teams had a minimum of five days' rest for all matches. It was the fourth time France has hosted the Rugby World Cup, having previously done so in 2007 and co-hosted the 1991 Rugby World Cup and 1999 Rugby World Cup with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This was the last tournament to feature 20 teams taking part, as the tournament will be expanded to include 24 teams in 2027.
The defending champions were South Africa, who defeated England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final.[3] South Africa retained their title by defeating New Zealand in the final.[4] In doing so, they became the first team to win the tournament four times and they remain the only team to ever win the World Cup after losing a match in the pool stage, as well as the first team to win successive World Cup titles away from home.[5] The result also marked their second victory over New Zealand in a final (winning 15–12 a.e.t. in 1995), and also their second victory in a final on French soil (defeating England 15–6 in 2007). As well as winning the World Cup after losing a pool game for the second consecutive time, they won each of their knockout games against France, England and New Zealand by a margin of 1 point.
Chile made their first appearance in the tournament. Portugal returned for their second appearance, 16 years after their debut in 2007, also in France.
World Rugby requested that any members wishing to host the 2023 event were to submit an expression of interest by June 2015. A total of six unions responded. The Italian Rugby Federation were among the members interested, but withdrew from their bid on 28 September 2016. The Argentine Rugby Union and USA Rugby both expressed their interest in hosting the event but ultimately decided against a formal bid.[citation needed] Three bids were officially submitted to World Rugby by the June 2017 deadline.
Twenty teams competed. A total of 12 teams gained automatic qualification for the tournament after finishing in the top three of their pool at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which included France already automatically qualified as host. The remaining eight spaces were decided by regional competitions followed by a few cross-regional play-offs.
Two berths were reserved to the European region. Spain originally qualified as Europe 2, but Romania lodged an official complaint that Spain had fielded an ineligible player during the qualifying tournament. After a controversial investigation, it was concluded that the player in question had falsified his passport: Spain received a deduction of 10 points, resulting in them being effectively ejected from the competition, with Romania replacing them as Europe 2 behind Georgia, unaffected as Europe 1. Portugal then took Romania's spot in the repechage tournament as Europe 3.[9]
In Oceania and Asia, traditional middle powers emerged, with Samoa claiming the region's place at the World Cup (Fiji, New Zealand and Australia having automatically qualified). Tonga, the second Oceanian team, then won a playoff against Hong Kong, the highest ranked Asian representative, to claim their ninth appearance at a Rugby World Cup. Hong Kong proceeded to the final repechage tournament.
In Africa, Namibia reached their seventh Rugby World Cup as Africa 1, with Kenya moving forward to the final repechage.
The Americas were allocated two qualifying berths through a series of playoff matches spanning both regions. The 2023 Rugby World Cup witnessed historic developments in North and South American rugby. Canada's absence marked the first time in history that the country failed to qualify for the tournament. Similarly, the United States found themselves excluded from the competition for the first time since 1995, representing a notable departure from previous editions. The absence of North American representation significantly shifted the regional dynamic due to unified North and South American qualification matches.
On 18 November 2022, Portugal won the repechage tournament, overcoming Kenya, Hong Kong and the United States to be the last country to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Each team could submit a squad of 33 players for the tournament, an increase from 31 that was allowed in 2019. The squads were to be submitted to World Rugby by 1 September. If a team needed to call-up a new player, a player must first have been withdrawn from the active 33-player squad which is usually as a consequence of a long-term injury.
On 1 May, Wales were the first team to name their extended training squad for the tournament.
Draw
The pool draw took place on 14 December 2020 in Paris.[10] The draw returned to its traditional place of the year following the previous World Cup, after the end-of-year internationals.
The seeding system from previous Rugby World Cups was retained with the 12 automatic qualifiers from 2019 being allocated to their respective bands based on their World Rugby Rankings on 1 January 2020:
Band 1: The four highest-ranked teams
Band 2: The next four highest-ranked teams
Band 3: The final four directly qualified teams
The remaining two bands were made up of the eight qualifying teams, with allocation to each band being based on the previous Rugby World Cup playing strength:
Band 4: – Oceania 1, Europe 1, Americas 1, Asia/Pacific 1
Band 5: – Africa 1, Europe 2, Americas 2, Final Qualifier Winner
This meant the 20 teams, qualified and qualifiers, were seeded thus (world ranking as of 1 January 2020):
Having the draw so early (almost three years before the competition) has been criticised. Changes in the World Rugby Rankings have taken place since, meaning that Pool B contained three of the top five teams (Ireland (1), South Africa (2) and Scotland (5)), while Pool A contained France (3) and New Zealand (4). Meanwhile, Pool C's highest-ranked team at the start of the tournament was Fiji (7).[11][12] World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin pledged that draws for future World Cups would be better balanced.[13]
World Rugby named the following 12 referees, seven assistant referees and for the first time an expanded television match officials team of seven to handle the 48 matches.[14]
Amongst the squad, Wayne Barnes officiated at a record fifth Rugby World Cup, while Nika Amashukeli became the first Georgian referee in the World Cup and first Tier 2 representative to referee a game since the game turned professional. Matthew Carley, Karl Dickson and Andrew Brace made their first appearance in a World Cup as a referee and Joy Neville became the first female named on match official panel for a men's Rugby World Cup.
The opening ceremony, directed and written by Jean Dujardin, Olivier Ferracci and Nora Matthey, took place on 8 September 2023 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, before the opening match between France and New Zealand.[15][16]
Pool stage
Competing countries were divided into four pools of five teams (pools A to D). Teams in each pool played one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage.
Inaugural 2023 Rugby World Cup match between France and New Zealand on 8 September.
Four points are awarded for a win.
Two points are awarded for a draw.
A try bonus point is awarded to teams that score four or more tries in a match.
A losing bonus point is awarded to teams that lose a match by fewer than eight points.[17]
Tie-breaking criteria for pool play
The ranking of tied teams in the pool stage is determined as follows:[18]
The winner of the Match in which the two tied Teams have played each other shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has the best difference between points scored for and points scored against in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has the best difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has scored most points in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has scored most tries in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
Should the tie be unresolved at the conclusion of steps 1 through 5, the rankings as per the updated Official World Rugby World Rankings on 2 October 2023 will determine the higher ranked Team. See the official World Rugby Rankings.
For clarification, in the case of a tie between three or more Teams at the end of the pool phase, once the highest ranked Team has been determined following the above criteria, to determine the next higher ranked Team the process would repeat, starting at the first criterion.
The knockout stage consisted of three single-elimination rounds culminating in a final and a third-place playoff. In the case of a tie in regulation time, two 10-minute periods of extra time would be played to determine a winner. If the scores were tied at the end of extra time, an additional 10-minute "sudden death" period would be played, with the first team to score any points being the winner. If the score still remained tied, a kicking competition would ensue.
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