In 2015, the third largest event in world sport, the Rugby World Cup comes to England (and Cardiff), the competition that England won in 2003 beating Australia. 20 teams will play 48 games, with a predicted 2.9m spectators including 400,000 overseas visitors and 4.2bn fans expected to tune in on television.
In 1987 the inaugural Rugby World Cup was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Sixteen teams competed for the Webb Ellis Cup. New Zealand won this first tournament with a 29-9 victory over France, making their captain, Oxford University, educated David Kirk the first captain to hoist the trophy aloft.
Opening match: 18th September, England v Fiji (ko20:00), Twickenham
Final: 31st October (ko 16:00), Twickenham
Matches:
View the Match Schedule here
Venues: Wembley. St James Park. Brighton
Community Stadium. Stadium MK. Millennium
Stadium. Kingsholm. Leicester City Stadium. Villa
Park. Manchester City Stadium. Twickenham. Elland
Road. Sandy Park. Olympic Stadium.
Past Winners
1987 New Zealand
1991 Australia
1995 South Africa
1999 Australia
2003 England
2007 South Africa
2011 New Zealand
