The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

, the quadrennial international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

championship. It was principally hosted by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professional era. Although the majority of matches were played outside Wales (shared between England, France,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and Ireland) the opening ceremony, the first match and the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

were held in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. Four automatic qualification places were available for the 1999 tournament;

qualified automatically as hosts, and the other three places went to the top three teams from the previous World Cup in 1995: champions

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, runners-up

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and third-placed

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Qualification for the final 16 places took place between 63 other nations. The tournament was expanded to 20 teams (from 16), divided into five pools of four teams, a scenario that necessitated a quarter-final play-off round involving the five runners-up and best third-placed team to decide who would join the pool winners in the last eight. The 1999 tournament saw the introduction of a

repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

, effectively a second chance for teams that had finished runners-up in each qualifying zone.

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

were the first nations to profit from the repechage, and took their places alongside fellow qualifiers Australia,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Fiji,

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, Japan,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The tournament began with the opening ceremony in the newly built Millennium Stadium, with

beating

23–18, and

Colin Charvis Colin Charvis (born 27 December 1972) is a former captain of the Wales national rugby union team and also played for the British & Irish Lions. A back row forward, Charvis was equally adept as a flanker or as the no. 8. Charvis became the w ...

scoring the first try of the tournament. Australia won the tournament, becoming the first nation to do so twice and also to date the only team ever to win after having to qualify for the tournament, with a 35–12 triumph over France, who were unable to repeat their semi-final victory over pre-tournament favourites

. The overall attendance for the tournament was 1.75 million.

Qualifying

The following 20 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Of the 20 teams, only four of those places were automatically allocated and did not have to play any qualification matches. These went to the champions, runners-up and the third-placed nations at the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and the tournament host,

. A record 65 nations from five continents were therefore involved in the qualification process designed to fill the remaining 16 spots.

Venues

Wales won the right to host the World Cup in 1999. The centrepiece venue for the tournament was the Millennium Stadium, built on the site of the old National Stadium at

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

at a cost of £126 million from Lottery money and private investment. Other venues in Wales were the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home ...

and

Stradey Park Stradey Park (Welsh: ''Parc y Strade'') was a rugby union stadium located near the centre of the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It was the home of the Scarlets region and Llanelli RFC rugby teams. The stadium was a combination o ...

. An agreement was reached so that the other unions in the

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

(England, France, Ireland and Scotland) also hosted matches. Venues in England included

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

and Welford Road, rugby union venues, as well as Ashton Gate in Bristol and the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield, which normally host football. Scottish venues included Murrayfield Stadium, the home of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

; Hampden Park, the home of the Scottish Football Association; and the smallest venue in the 1999 tournament,

Netherdale Netherdale is a sports complex in Galashiels, Scottish Borders, consisting of two adjacent stadiums used for rugby union and football. The rugby ground is the home of Gala RFC and was formerly used by the professional Border Reivers team. It host ...

, in

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

, in the Scottish Borders. Venues in Ireland included

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

, the traditional home of the Irish Rugby Football Union; Ravenhill; and

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

. France used five venues, the most of any nation, including the French national stadium, Stade de France, which hosted the final of both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Pools and format

With the expansion of the

from 16 to 20 teams an unusual and complex format was used with the teams split into five pools of four teams with each team playing each other in their pool once. *Pool A was played in

*Pool B was played in

*Pool C was played in

*Pool D was played in the principal host nation

*Pool E was played in

Points system The points system that was used in the pool stage was unchanged from both

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and

: *3 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 point for playing The five pool winners qualified automatically to the quarter-finals. The five pool runners-up and the best third-placed side qualified for the quarter-final play-offs. Knock-out stage The five pool runners-up and the best third-placed team from the pool stage (which was

) contested the quarter-final play-offs in three one-off matches that decided the remaining three places in the quarter-finals, with the losers being eliminated. The unusual format meant that two pool winners in the quarter-finals would have to play each other. From the quarter-final stage it became a simple knockout tournament. The semi-final losers played off for third place. The draw and format for the knock-out stage was set as follows. Quarter-final play-offs draw *Match H: Pool B runner-up v Pool C runner-up *Match G: Pool A runner-up v Pool D runner-up *Match F: Pool E runner-up v Best third-placed team Quarter-finals draw *Match M: Pool D winners v Pool E winners *Match J: Pool A winners v Play-off H winners *Match L: Pool C winners v Play-off F winners *Match K: Pool B winners v Play-off G winners Semi-finals draw *Match J winners v Match M winners *Match L winners v Match K winners A total of 41 matches (30 pool stage and 11 knock-out) were played throughout the tournament over 35 days from 1 October 1999 to 6 November 1999.

Squads

Referees

Pool stage

The tournament began on 1 October 1999 in the newly built Millennium Stadium in

, with

beating

in a hard-fought game 23–18 to get their campaign off to a positive start. The Pool stage of the tournament played out as was widely expected with the Tri Nations teams of

(who inflected a massive 101–3 win against

at the McAlpine Stadium in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

and Australia all winning their pools easily without losing a single game. For the then

teams who all played their pool matches in their own countries it was a case of mixed fortunes with

winning their pool without losing a game. Host

also won their pool, though they suffered 31–38 defeat at the hands of

in front of a home crowd at the Millennium Stadium. However, as expected

and

all finished second in their pools and were forced to try to qualify for the quarter-finals via the play-offs alongside fellow runners-up

and Fiji, and

as the best third placed side from all five pools, having been the only third-placed side to win two matches (against Samoa and Japan). Indeed, Argentina had finished level with Wales and Samoa on 7 points each in the group stages, and could only be separated by "total points scored": playing and winning their final match against Japan, they had the chance to overtake either of Samoa or Wales, but were 14 points short of overtaking Samoa's total score and a further 18 points short of Wales.

Pool A

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool B

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool C

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool D

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool E

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Ranking of third-placed teams

Play-off stage

The quarter-final play-offs were three one-off knock-out matches between the runners-up of each pool and the best third-placed side from all five pools to decide the remaining three places in the quarter-finals. The matches were played in mid-week between the completion of the pool stage and the start of the quarter-finals. The matches produced fairly easy wins for

, beating Fiji 45–24, and also for

, beating

35–20. However, the final match produced the shock of the round where

upset

28–24 in

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

Quarter-final play-offs

---- ----

Knockout stage

The winners from the quarter-final play-offs, who had played in mid-week, joined the pool winners, who had enjoyed a week long rest, in the quarter-finals.

, hosts

and

were all knocked out, and

, who beat

, were the only team left from the Northern Hemisphere. The semi-finals, which were both played at

, produced two of the most dramatic matches of the tournament, with Australia beating

27–21 in extra-time after normal time ended with the scores locked at 18-18. The second semi-final between favourites

and underdogs France was an all-time classic, as France overturned a 24–10 half-time deficit to win 43–31 and reach their second World Cup final. France and Australia met at the Millennium Stadium on 6 November 1999, with Australia winning 35–12 to become the first team to win the

Webb Ellis Cup The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the men's Rugby World Cup, the premier competition in men's international rugby union. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as being the inventor of rugby footb ...

twice. The cup was presented by Queen Elizabeth II to Australian captain

John Eales John Eales AM (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. In 1999, he became one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups. Early life Eales ...

. The overall attendance for the tournament was 1.75 million.

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Third-place play-off

Final

Statistics

The tournament's top point scorer was Argentina's

Gonzalo Quesada Gonzalo Quesada (born 2 May 1974) is a retired Argentine rugby player who presently works as a coach for Stade Français in France's Top 14. Biography Quesada was born May 2, 1974, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He played for amateur club Hindú al ...

, who scored 102 points.

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...

scored the most tries, eight in total, a rugby world cup record.

Broadcasting

British television rights holders ITV acted as the host broadcaster for the tournament, with coverage shown in 209 countries, to an audience of 3.1 billion viewers. In Australia, the event was broadcast by

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

Broadcast UK history

*'' ITV'' (1 October 1999 – 6 November 1999) *'' S4C'' (1 October 1999 – 6 November 1999)

Notes

References

External links

Rugbyworldcup.com
(Archived)
1999 Rugby World Cup
on Worldcupweb.com

on ESPN Scrum {{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup International rugby union competitions hosted by England International rugby union competitions hosted by France International rugby union competitions hosted by Ireland International rugby union competitions hosted by Scotland International rugby union competitions hosted by Wales

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

1999 rugby union tournaments for national teams 1999–2000 in French rugby union 1999–2000 in English rugby union 1999–2000 in Irish rugby union 1999–2000 in Scottish rugby union 1999–2000 in Welsh rugby union

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...