2023 Rugby World Cup
The 2023 Rugby World Cup, to be hosted by France, is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, taking place in the year of the 200th anniversary of the 'invention' of the sport by William Webb Ellis from 8 September to 21 October.[2] The final will take place at the Stade de France. It will be the second time France has hosted the Rugby World Cup, having previously hosted the 2007 event. It precedes the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and will take place less than a year before the Olympic opening ceremony.
| Coupe du monde de rugby 2023 | |
|---|---|
 We Are rugby #WeAre2023! [1] | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host nation |  France |
| Dates | 8 September – 21 October |
← 2019 2027 → | |
The defending champions are South Africa.
Qualifying
20 teams are set to compete. A total of 12 teams gained automatic qualification to the tournament after finishing in the top three of their pool at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, while France automatically qualify as host. The remaining eight spaces will be decided by regional competitions followed by a few cross-regional play-offs. The final spot will be decided by a repechage tournament in November 2022.
The below table shows the qualified teams as of 2 November 2019:
| Region | Team | Qualification method |
Previous apps |
Previous best result | World Rugby Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa |  South Africa |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 7 | Champions (1995, 2007, 2019) | 1 |
| Asia |  Japan |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Quarter-finals (2019) | 10 |
| Europe |  England |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Champions (2003) | 2 |
| France |
Hosts | 9 | Runners-up (1987, 1999, 2011) | 4 | |
 Ireland |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Quarter-finals (seven times) | 5 | |
 Italy |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Pool stage | 14 | |
 Scotland |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Fourth place (1991) | 7 | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Wales |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Third place (1987) | 9 | |
| Oceania | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Champions (1991, 1999) | 6 |
 Fiji |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 8 | Quarter-finals (1987, 2007) | 11 | |
 New Zealand |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Champions (1987, 2011, 2015) | 3 | |
| South America |  Argentina |
Top 3 in 2019 RWC pool | 9 | Third place (2007) | 8 |
Draw
The pool draw took place on 14 December 2020, in Paris.[3] The draw returned to its traditional place of the year following the previous World Cup, after the end-of-year internationals.
The seeding system from previous Rugby World Cups was retained with the 12 automatic qualifiers from 2019 being allocated to their respective bands based on their World Rugby Rankings on 1 January 2020:
- Band 1: The four highest-ranked teams
- Band 2: The next four highest-ranked teams
- Band 3: The final four directly qualified teams
The remaining two bands were made up of the eight qualifying teams, with allocation to each band being based on the previous Rugby World Cup playing strength:
- Band 4: – Oceania 1, Europe 1, Americas 1, Asia/Pacific 1
- Band 5: – Africa 1, Europe 2, Americas 2, Final Qualifier Winner
This meant the 20 teams, qualified and qualifiers, were seeded thus (world ranking as of 1 January 2020):
| Band 1 | Band 2 | Band 3 | Band 4 | Band 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Hosting and venues
The French Rugby Federation bid was chosen by World Rugby on 15 November 2017, ahead of bids by the South African Rugby Union and the Irish Rugby Football Union. France had launched its bid on 9 February 2017.[4] On 17 March, twelve host cities were selected.[5] This list was later reduced to nine cities (excluding Paris, Montpellier and Lens):
| Saint-Denis (Paris) |
Marseille | Décines-Charpieu (Lyon) |
Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Lille) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stade de Franceab | Stade Vélodromea | Parc Olympique Lyonnais | Stade Pierre-Mauroy |
| Capacity: 80,698 | Capacity: 67,394 | Capacity: 59,186 | Capacity: 50,157 |
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 |
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| Bordeaux | |||
| Matmut Atlantique | |||
| Capacity: 42,115 | |||
 | |||
| Saint-Étienne | Nice | Nantes | Toulouse |
| Stade Geoffroy-Guicharda | Allianz Riviera | Stade de la Beaujoirea | Stadium Municipalab |
| Capacity: 41,965 | Capacity: 35,624 | Capacity: 35,322 | Capacity: 33,150 |
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a Stadium/site used in 2007 Rugby World Cup. b Stadium/site used in 1999 Rugby World Cup.
Pool stage
Pool A
Team |
Pld | W | D | L | TF | PF | PA | +/− | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| France |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Italy |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Americas 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Africa 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pool B
Team |
Pld | W | D | L | TF | PF | PA | +/− | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ireland |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scotland |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Asia/Pacific 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Europe 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Knockout stage
The knockout stage of the Rugby World Cup will consist of three single-elimination rounds leading to a final and a third-place playoff. Following a tie in regulation time, two 10-minute periods of extra time will be used to determine a winner. If the scores are tied at the end of extra time, an additional 10-minute "sudden death" period is played, with the first team to score any points being declared the winner. If the score remains tied at the end of extra time, a kicking competition would ensue.
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| Game QF1 | ||||||||||
| Winner of Pool C | ||||||||||
| Game SF1 | ||||||||||
| Runner-up of Pool D | ||||||||||
| Winner of QF1 | ||||||||||
| Game QF2 | ||||||||||
| Winner of QF2 | ||||||||||
| Winner of Pool B | ||||||||||
| Final Game | ||||||||||
| Runner-up of Pool A | ||||||||||
| Winner of SF1 | ||||||||||
| Game QF3 | ||||||||||
| Winner of SF2 | ||||||||||
| Winner of Pool D | ||||||||||
| Game SF2 | ||||||||||
| Runner-up of Pool C | ||||||||||
| Winner of QF3 | ||||||||||
| Game QF4 | ||||||||||
| Winner of QF4 | Third place | |||||||||
| Winner of Pool A | ||||||||||
| Third-place Game | ||||||||||
| Runner-up of Pool B | ||||||||||
| Loser of SF1 | ||||||||||
| Loser of SF2 | ||||||||||
Broadcasting
References
- Atout France English Website. "The 2023 Rugby World Cup Slogan is Unveiled ｜ rugbyworldcup.com". us.media.france.fr. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- "Webb Ellis, William", Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- rugbybworldcup.com. "Stage set for Rugby World Cup 2023 Draw - Rugby World Cup 2023 ｜ rugbyworldcup.com". www.rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- "Rugby: France launch 2023 World Cup bid", Reuters, 9 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017
- "#France2023 : Douze villes hôtes retenues" (in French). sport24.com. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- "Rugby World Cup 2019 and TF1 continue record broadcast partnership".
- "ITV appointed UK rights holder for men's and women's Rugby World Cup events". rugbybworldcup.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- "NBC Sports Group acquires exclusive U.S. media rights to Rugby World Cup". 22 May 2017.