The History of the Rugby World Cup
The 2015 Rugby World Cup (RWC), which will be the eighth edition, will be played in England from 18 September to 31 October. As we close on the quadrennial rugby union world championship, we look forward to the greatest prize in rugby and the teams competing for it.
This is not just the greatest prize in rugby but also one of the world’s most admired competitions. The RWC is, inarguably, one of the most followed sporting events behind the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.
The first World Cup was played in 1987 starting as a competition with 16 invited teams. Since then, it has grown in stature, size and prominence to 20 teams now. The winner is presented with the Webb Ellis Cup, the famous trophy which is named in honour of the sport’s folkloric founder and English schoolboy William Webb Ellis.
There are 20 teams vying for the top prize this time, of which 12 qualified by finishing in the top three places in their pools in the previous World Cup. The remaining eight teams have come through regional competition. This year’s lineup is almost the same to the previous one – with Uruguay replacing Russia the only change.
The Australian rugby team, popularly known as the Wallabies, is one of the most successful in World Cups. Together with New Zealand and South Africa, they are the only team to win the Cup twice.
The Wallabies will be wary of the fact that the last time they won the trophy was in 1999. In the last two editions, they failed to reach the finals too. Expectations from Australian fans will be to set the record straight and get the Cup back home.
The Aussies are currently ranked number three in the world and should take pride in their record of making it out of the pool stage every single time in World Cup history. Having beaten both New Zealand and South Africa just a few weeks ago, the team should be riding high on confidence.
Interestingly, both the World Cup wins for the Wallabies have come in England – 1991 and 1999. Will it be third time lucky for the Aussies?
Follow our articles here on Bet King in the coming weeks as we build up to what promises to be an exciting World Cup.
