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1991 Rugby World Cup
2nd Rugby World Cup
2nd Rugby World Cup
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| logo | RWC1991logo.svg |
| logosize | 130px |
| datefrom | 3 October |
| dateto | 2 November (31 days) |
| other_titles | French: Coupe du monde de rugby 1991 |
| host | England |
| jointhost1 | France |
| jointhost1-flagvar | 1974 |
| jointhost2 | Ireland |
| jointhost2-flagvar | rugby union |
| jointhost3 | Scotland |
| jointhost4 | Wales |
| nations | 16 (33 qualifying) |
| champion | |
| count | 1 |
| runnerup | |
| third | |
| matches | 32 |
| attendance | 1027827 |
| top_scorer | IRE Ralph Keyes (68) |
| most_tries | FRA Jean-Baptiste Lafond |
| AUS David Campese | |
| (6 tries each) | |
| prev | [1987](1987-rugby-world-cup) |
| next | [1995](1995-rugby-world-cup) |
the men's tournament
| jointhost1-flagvar = 1974 | jointhost2-flagvar = rugby union AUS David Campese (6 tries each) 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 the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in the northern hemisphere, with England the hosts of the final. Also for the first time, qualifying competitions were introduced as the number of entrants had increased, from 16 nations four years earlier, to 33 countries. The eight quarter-finalists from 1987 qualified automatically with the remaining eight spots contested through qualifiers by 25 countries. This resulted in only one new side qualifying for the tournament, Western Samoa replacing Tonga. The same 16-team pool/knock-out format was used with just minor changes to the points system. South Africa was again not included because of sanctions imposed on the country by the International Rugby Board (IRB), due to the government's apartheid policies.
The pool stages produced a major upset when Western Samoa, who were making their debut in the tournament, defeated the 1987 semi-finalists Wales 16–13 in Cardiff. Along with the other results in the group, this led to the elimination of Wales, who finished third in Pool 3. Also notable in pool play was that Canada finished second in their pool to qualify for the quarter-finals, which remains their best performance in the World Cup. Fiji, as quarter-finalists four years earlier, had expected to occupy that position, but after the upset loss to Canada and a hammering by France, they lost even their final match against the unfancied Romanian team. Earlier, the opening match had pitted the holders New Zealand against the hosts England: New Zealand overturned a narrow half-time deficit to win the match and the pool, both teams qualifying for the quarter-finals with easy victories in their other matches. Scotland beat Ireland to top their pool, again both teams qualifying.
In the quarter-finals, neither Canada nor Western Samoa proved a match for New Zealand or Scotland, respectively. Meanwhile, England knocked out 1987 finalist France in a bruising encounter. Australia pipped Ireland 19–18 in a thrilling match at Lansdowne Road, with a last-gasp try from fly-half Michael Lynagh coming after the Irish took an unexpected 18–15 lead. The semi-finals produced two tight matches: England overcame Scotland 9–6, a late drop goal deciding a tryless match in a torrential downpour at Murrayfield Stadium, and Australia defeated the defending champions New Zealand 16–6 at Lansdowne Road.
The final was played at Twickenham Stadium in London, and saw Australia win 12–6 against England, with a first-half try from prop Tony Daly.
Qualification
Main article: 1991 Rugby World Cup qualifying
The following 16 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Of the 16 teams, eight of those places were automatically filled by quarter-finalists from the 1987 World Cup and did not have to play any qualification matches. 25 nations competed in a qualification process designed to fill the remaining eight spots, bringing the total participation to 33 nations. In the event, there was only one change from the 1987 tournament, with Western Samoa appearing in place of Tonga.
| Africa | Americas | Europe | Oceania/Asia |
|---|
Venues
| ENG London | SCO Edinburgh | WAL Cardiff | IRE Dublin | FRA Paris | FRA Toulouse | FRA Grenoble | FRA Villeneuve d'Ascq | FRA Béziers | ENG Leicester | FRA Brive | FRA Agen | FRA Bayonne | ENG Gloucester | IRE Belfast | WAL Llanelli | WAL Pontypool | WAL Pontypridd | ENG Otley | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twickenham Stadium | Murrayfield Stadium | National Stadium | Lansdowne Road | Parc des Princes | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity: **60,000** | Capacity: **67,800** | Capacity: **53,000** | Capacity: **49,250** | Capacity: **48,712** | |||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Twickenham rfu.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:A pot of gold... - geograph.org.uk - 718806.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:The National Stadium The Arms Park Cardiff.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Leinster2006.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Paris-Parc-des-Princes.jpg | 200px]] | ||||||||||||||
| Stade Ernest-Wallon | Stade Lesdiguières | Stadium Lille-Metropole | Stade de la Méditerranée | Welford Road | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity: **19,000** | Capacity: **18,548*** | Capacity: **18,185** | Capacity: **18,000** | Capacity: **16,815** | |||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Stade-ernest-wallon-04.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Tribune lienard.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Stadium Nord (Champions League).png | 200px]] | [[File:BéziersMassy2.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Welford Road, Leicester Tigers.jpg | 200px]] | ||||||||||||||
| Parc Municipal des Sports | Stade Armandie | Stade Jean Dauger | Kingsholm | Ravenhill | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity: **16,000** | Capacity: **14,000** | Capacity: **13,500** | Capacity: **12,500** | Capacity: **12,300** | |||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Stade Amédée Domenech.JPG | 200px]] | [[File:Tribuneouest.JPG | 200px]] | [[File:STA 0480.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Kingsholm in 2007.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Ravenhillstadium.jpg | 200px]] | ||||||||||||||
| Stradey Park | Pontypool Park | Sardis Road | Cross Green | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity: **10,800** | Capacity: **8,800** | Capacity: **7,200** | Capacity: **7,500** | ||||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Stradey Park.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Pontypool Rugby Ground - geograph.org.uk - 1760922.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Sardis Road - Pontypridd.jpg | 200px]] | [[File:Cross Green rugby ground, Otley.jpg | 200px]] |
Squads
Main article: 1991 Rugby World Cup squads
Referees
Format
| Pool 1 | Pool 2 | Pool 3 | Pool 4 |
|---|
As in the 1987 Rugby World Cup the 16 nations were divided into four pools of four nations, with each nation playing their other pool opponents once, every nation playing three times during the pool stages. Nations were awarded 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and zero for a loss, the top two nations of every pool advanced to the quarter-finals. The runners-up of each pool faced the winners of a different pool in the quarter-finals. The winners moved on to the semi-finals, with the winners then moving onto the final, and the losers of the semi-finals contesting a third/fourth place play off.
- Pool 1 was played in England
- Pool 2 was played in both Scotland and Ireland, with matches played in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
- Pool 3 was played in Wales
- Pool 4 was played in France
Points system
The points system that was used in the pool stage was which was changed from 1987 was as follows:
- 3 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 1 point for playing
A total of 32 matches (24 in the pool stage and eight in the knock-out stage) were played throughout the tournament over 30 days from 3 October 1991 to 2 November 1991.
Pool stage
Pool 1
| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 95 | 39 | **9** | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 85 | 33 | **7** | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 57 | 76 | **5** | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 113 | **3** |
Francescato Vaccari Gaetaniello
Earl Purvis Timu Tuigamala Innes
Underwood Webb
Carling Skinner Heslop
Bonomi Innes Tuigamala Hewett
Pool 2
| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 122 | 36 | **9** | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 102 | 51 | **7** | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 77 | 87 | **5** | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 31 | 158 | **3** |
Stanger Chalmers White Penalty try Tukalo G. Hastings Chalmers
Popplewell (2) Geoghegan Curtis Schultz
O’Hara Staples Kajihara Yoshida
Turnbull S. Hastings Stanger Weir White
Armstrong
Mashuho (2) Kutsuki (2) Horikoshi Luaiufi Matsuo Nguruve
Pool 3
| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 79 | 25 | **9** | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 54 | 34 | **7** | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 61 | **5** | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 38 | 83 | **3** |
Horan (2) Kearns
Evans Vaifale
Rayer
Slattery Campese Horan Lynagh
Arbizu Lima (2) Bunce Bachop Replaced by Jim Fleming (Scotland) at halftime
Pool 4
| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 82 | 25 | **9** | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 33 | **7** | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 31 | 64 | **5** | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 63 | **3** |
Lafond Penalty try Saint-André
Sella (2) Camberabero
Ennis Sasu
Turuva Dumitras Sasu
Saint-André Camberabero Rees
Knockout stage
|19 October – Edinburgh||28||6 |19 October – Paris||10||19 |20 October – Lille||29||13 |20 October – Dublin||19||18 |26 October – Edinburgh||6||9 |27 October – Dublin||6||16 |2 November – London||6||12 |30 October – Cardiff||6||13
Quarter-finals
Carling
Stanger
Lynagh
Charron McCahill Brooke Kirwan
Semi-finals
Horan
Third-place play-off
Final
Main article: 1991 Rugby World Cup Final
Statistics
Main article: 1991 Rugby World Cup statistics
The tournament's top point scorer was Ireland's Ralph Keyes, who scored 68 points. David Campese and Jean-Baptiste Lafond scored the most tries, six in total.
| Player | Team | Position | Played | Tries | Conversions | Penalties | Drop goals | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ralph Keyes | Fly-half | 4 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 2 | **68** | |
| Michael Lynagh | Fly-half | 6 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 0 | **66** | |
| Gavin Hastings | Fullback | 5 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 0 | **61** | |
| Jonathan Webb | Fullback | 5 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 0 | **56** | |
| Grant Fox | Fly-half | 4 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 | **44** | |
| Didier Camberabero | Fly-half | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | **32** | |
| Diego Dominguez | Fly-half | 3 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 0 | **29** | |
| Takahiro Hosokawa | Fullback | 3 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 1 | **29** | |
| Mathew Vaea | Scrum-half | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | **25** | |
| David Campese | Wing | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | **24** | |
| Jean-Baptiste Lafond | Centre | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Broadcasters
The event was broadcast in the United Kingdom by ITV who took over the rights from the BBC. 13 million people in the United Kingdom watched the final. In Australia it was the second and the last (as of the 2023 tournament) Rugby World Cup to be broadcast on ABC television as, from 1995, the commercial networks 7, 9 and 10 would all take over the broadcast rights sometimes in partnership with pay and streaming broadcasters Fox and Stan. In New Zealand, it was broadcast by TVNZ. In France, it was broadcast by TF1 instead of France's traditional Rugby broadcasters Antenne2. In Ireland it was broadcast by RTÉ. ITV, TF1 and RTE were the host broadcasters broadcasting the pictures around the world as well to their own countries.
References
References
- "The stars of 1991".
- (17 March 2020). "My favourite game: France v England, Rugby World Cup 1991 | Martin Pengelly".
- "BBC - A Sporting Nation - Scotland's Rugby World Cup 1991".
- (17 August 2011). "Rugby World Cup Classic Moment: Tim Horan recalls David Campese's amazing pass in 1991 semi-final".
- ""We're taking Bill back home!" How the Wallabies won the 1991 Rugby World Cup".
- (5 November 2021). "Incredible impact of iconic Australian triumph".
- (2008). "IRB World Rugby Yearbook 2009". Vision Sports Publishing.
- "Lynagh silences Lansdowne Road".
- (29 October 2015). "1991 Rugby World Cup: how the Wallabies won the cup | Latest Rugby News | RUGBY.com.au".
- (28 July 2010). "ITV retains Rugby World Cup rights".
- (26 September 1999). "Rugby World Cup: Pundits primed for the on-screen ruck and maul".
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