Pool A of the 2007 Rugby World Cup began on 8 September and was completed on 30 September. The pool was composed of 2003 World Cup winners

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 ...

, as well as

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 Island, Manono an ...

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

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 ...

and

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 territorie ...

Overview

Pool A threw up few surprises, with both South Africa and England qualifying for the quarter-finals, as expected. Third place went to Tonga, who beat the USA and South Pacific neighbours, Samoa, to secure a place in the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

. Tonga also gave the eventual champions a close run, losing by less than a try. Both South Africa and England went on to reach 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 cont ...

of the tournament, which South Africa won by 15 points to 6. ''All times local (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...

)''

England vs United States

South Africa vs Samoa

United States vs Tonga

England vs South Africa

Notes

*Percy Montgomery equalled Joost van der Westhuizen as the most-capped Springbok with his 89th appearance. *This was the first scoreless match for England at the World Cup; it was also the first time a past World Champion had failed to score in a World Cup match. It was only the fifth time a side had failed to score in a World Cup match, after

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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

, although

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

joined this list later in the tournament.

Samoa vs Tonga

South Africa vs Tonga

Notes

*Percy Montgomery earns his 90th cap, surpassing Joost van der Westhuizen as the most-capped Springbok.

England vs Samoa

Samoa vs United States

England vs Tonga

South Africa vs United States

Notes

* Takudzwa Ngwenya's try, which he scored from his own half after faking out Bryan Habana and running past him, was named the Try of the Year in international rugby by the International Rugby Players' Association, an award handed out at the 2007

IRB Awards The World Rugby Awards are given out annually by World Rugby (until November 2014, known as the International Rugby Board), the worldwide governing body for rugby union, for major achievements in the sport. The idea of rewarding excellence in rug ...

. *Thretton Palamo became the youngest player ever to appear in the Rugby World Cup, at age 19 years 8 days. The previous record was held by

Federico Méndez Federico Mendez (2 August 1972, Mendoza Province, Mendoza), also known as Freddie Mendez is an Argentina, Argentine rugby union footballer. Méndez played professional rugby in South Africa, England and France. He also played for Mendoza Rugby Club ...

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 ...

, who appeared in the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

at 19 years 54 days.

Notes and references

External links

Pool A
a
rugbyworldcup.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup Pool A 2007–08 in English rugby union 2007 in South African rugby union 2007 in Samoan rugby union 2007 in Tongan rugby union 2007 in American rugby union