The qualification process for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

began during the pool stages of the 1999 tournament in Wales, during which the quarterfinalists were awarded automatic qualification for the 2003 event. A further twelve teams qualified through regional tournaments and the repechage process.

Qualifiers

A total of 79 teams from around the world were involved in some stage of qualifying.

Repechage qualification

* Repechage 1 * Repechage 2

Africa qualification

In qualification for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, there was one position for an African nation, as well as the possibility of repechage qualification.

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 ...

qualified, joining automatic qualifiers

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 ...

at the competition in Australia.

Pool A

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Match schedule

Pool B

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Match schedule

Round 2

Final standings

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Match Schedule

Round 3

Pool A

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= Match schedule

Pool B

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Match schedule

Round 4

''Namibia won the round based on total tries scored (4 to 3). Namibia qualified to Pool A of the

as Africa 1. Tunisia advanced to

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 ...

.''

Americas qualification

In qualification for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a number of positions were available to Americas nations.

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 ...

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 the

USA 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 ...

would eventually qualify.

Round 1 (North)

''Winner (Trinidad and Tobago) qualified to Round 2.''

Round 1 (South)

Valid also as 2001 South American Rugby Championship "B" ''Winner (Brazil) qualified to Round 2.''

Final standings

Match Schedule

Round 2

''Winner (Brazil) qualified to Round 3.''

Round 3

Match schedule

Round 4

''Top two (Canada and Uruguay) qualified to World Cup as Americas 1 and 2. 3rd Place (USA) to Repechage.''

Final standings

Match Schedule

Asia

In qualification for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, there was one position available to the Asia qualifiers, as well as the possibility of further

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 ...

qualification. Japan would go on to qualify for the competition.

Round 1 – April 2002

Pool A

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= Match schedule

Pool B

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= Match schedule

Pool C

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= Match schedule

Round 2 – May, 2002

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Match schedule

Round 3 – June–July, 2002

''Winner (Japan) qualified to Pool B of

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Match schedule

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2003 Rugby World Cup Qualifying