2003 Rugby Union World Cup
The 2003 Rugby Union World Cup is the fifth world cup in rugby history. Originally planned to be played in Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World Cup Limited.Twenty countries are represented at this year's event. The eight quarter-finalists from the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup all received automatic entry, with the other twelve teams selected from a qualifying series around the world.
The teams are divided into four pools of five countries, with the top two in each pool moving on to the knockout quarter-final stage.
The pre-event favourites were England and New Zealand, with France, defending champions Australia and South Africa all expected to make strong showings.
Early in the competition there was some criticism in the Australian media of mismatches when "minnow" countries were crushed by the rugby superpowers by 60 points or more. On the other hand, Japan, not a favoured team, acquitted themselves well in their opening matches against Scotland and France, although eventually being defeated. There were also reports of the South Pacific island countries of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa being handicapped through several of their players who play abroad being warned that their contracts would not be renewed if they played in the competition.
| Table of contents |
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2 Results 3 See also |
| Pool A | ||||||
| Team | Won | Drawn | Lost | >For | Against | Points |
| Australia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 273 | 32 | 18 |
| Ireland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 141 | 55 | 15 |
| Argentina | 2 | 0 | 2 | 140 | 57 | 11 |
| Romania | 1 | 0 | 3 | 65 | 192 | 5 |
| Namibia | 0 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 310 | 0 |
| Pool B | ||||||
| Team | Won | Drawn | Lost | >For | Against | Points |
| France | 4 | 0 | 0 | 204 | 70 | 20 |
| Scotland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 102 | 97 | 14 |
| Fiji | 2 | 0 | 2 | 98 | 112 | 9 |
| USA | 1 | 0 | 3 | 86 | 125 | 6 |
| Japan | 0 | 0 | 4 | 79 | 163 | 0 |
| Pool C | ||||||
| Team | Won | Drawn | Lost | >For | Against | Points |
| England | 4 | 0 | 0 | 255 | 47 | 19 |
| South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 184 | 60 | 15 |
| Samoa | 2 | 0 | 2 | 138 | 117 | 10 |
| Uruguay | 1 | 0 | 3 | 56 | 255 | 4 |
| Georgia | 0 | 0 | 4 | 46 | 200 | 0 |
| Pool D | ||||||
| Team | Won | Drawn | Lost | >For | Against | Points |
| New Zealand | 4 | 0 | 0 | 282 | 57 | 20 |
| Wales | 3 | 0 | 1 | 132 | 98 | 14 |
| Italy | 2 | 0 | 2 | 76 | 124 | 8 |
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 3 | 54 | 135 | 5 |
| Tonga | 0 | 0 | 4 | 46 | 178 | 1 |
Four points for a win. Two points for a draw. One bonus point for scoring four tries. One bonus point for losing by seven points or less.
Results
Quarter finalists automatically qualify for the 2007 Rugby Union World Cup.See also
