2011 Royal Moroccan Air Force C-130 crash, Accident
The aircraft involved, a four-engined Lockheed C-130H Hercules with registration CNA-OQ, was travelling from Dakhla Airport in Western Sahara to Kenitra Air Base, with a scheduled stopover at Guelmim.


2011 Royal Moroccan Air Force C-130 crash, Accident
While approaching Guelmim Airport, the Hercules crashed into Sayyert Mountain, approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi; 5.4 nmi) north-east of Guelmin. At that time, the weather in the area was reported as poor.


2011 Royal Moroccan Air Force C-130 crash, Accident
It was the deadliest aviation accident of 2011, and Morocco's deadliest military aviation disaster.


2011 Royal Moroccan Air Force C-130 crash, Accident
King Mohammed VI announced three days of national mourning following the crash.


2011 Royal Trophy
The 2011 Royal Trophy was the fifth edition of the Royal Trophy, a team golf event contested between teams representing Asia and Europe. It was held from  7–9 January at the Black Mountain Golf Club in Thailand. Europe won the Trophy 9 to 7.


2011 Rugby Borough Council election
The 2011 Rugby Borough Council election the Rugby Borough Council took place on Thursday 5 May 2011.


2011 Rugby Borough Council election
There were 16 seats up for election, one third of the council. The election produced a majority for the Conservative Party.


2011 Rugby League European Bowl, Tournament
The 2011 Bowl again comprised a single match. Czech Republic and Hungary  (Magyar Bulls RLFC) both made their debuts in the Bowl competition.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations
The 2011 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (also known as the 2011 Gillette Rugby League Four Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette) was the third staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament and was played in England and Wales during October and November 2011, which was contested by regular contestants Australia, England and New Zealand, in addition to Wales, who had qualified for their first Four Nations by winning the 2010 European Cup.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations
The tournament saw the return of international rugby league to London's Wembley Stadium for the first time since 1997, with a double-header played on 5 November 2011. Australia won the tournament, defeating England in the final at Elland Road, Leeds, on 19 November 2011. The match was the last of the 17-year professional career of Australia's captain Darren Lockyer.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, History
The 2011 tournament was the third of three Four Nations series planned before the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, with the venues rotating between Europe and the South Pacific. There was no Four Nations in 2012 due to teams preparing for the World Cup.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, History
In addition to automatic inclusions Australia, England and New Zealand, Wales qualified for the tournament by defeating France in the final of the 2010 European Cup.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, Australia
Australian coach Tim Sheens' touring squad was announced on 3 October: Of the twenty four players, twenty three were Australian born while one was Fijian born.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, Australia
1 Replaced originally selected Brett Stewart who withdrew due to injury.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, Australia
2 Replaced originally selected David Taylor who withdrew due to injury.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, Australia
3 Replaced originally selected Glenn Stewart who withdrew for compassionate reasons.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, England
The England squad for the 2011 Four Nations: Of the twenty four players, twenty two were English born while one was New Zealand born and one Australian born.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, New Zealand
The Kiwis announced their 23-man touring squad on 4 October. Of the twenty three players, eighteen were New Zealand born while four were Australian born and one Tongan born.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, New Zealand
1 Replaced original replacement Krisnan Inu who withdrew for family reasons. He replaced originally selected Steve Matai who withdrew due to injury.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, New Zealand
2 Replaced originally selected Manu Vatuvei who withdrew due to injury.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, New Zealand
3 Replaced originally selected Shaun Johnson who withdrew due to injury.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, Wales
The Welsh training squad was named on 14 September. Of the twenty three players, nine were English born while eight were Welsh born and five Australian borns and one South African born.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Squads, Wales
Gareth Thomas was originally selected in the squad, but retired with immediate effect in the week leading up to the tournament.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Venues
The games were played at venues in England and Wales. The tournament final was played in Leeds.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Statistics, Top pointscorers
Johnathan Thurston broke the record for most points in a single tournament with his 56-point haul. The previous record of 42 was set in 2005 by New Zealand's Stacey Jones.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Pre-tournament matches
Before the series, England played a Test match against France, New Zealand and Australia played a test in Newcastle before heading to Great Britain, and Wales played Ireland in Neath.


2011 Rugby League Four Nations, Pre-tournament matches
New Zealand were originally scheduled to play a Test match against the Cook Islands on 7 October, however this was called off due to the unavailability of 29 frontline players.


2011 Rugby Super League season
The 2011 Rugby Super League season was be the sixteenth season of the Rugby Super League, the United States' premier division of rugby union. The regular season commenced March 12, 2011 with the Utah Warriors playing the Denver Barbarians. On April 30, 2011; the regular season ended, followed by the RSL playoffs, for which the top four clubs qualified. San Francisco Golden Gate won the playoffs and were crowned champions. They also had the best regular season and repeated as premiers.


2011 Rugby Super League season
The defending champions were the New York Athletic Club, the defending premiers were the San Francisco Golden Gate.


2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated France 8–7 in the final. The defending champions, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event (following New Zealand in 1987 and South Africa in 1995).


2011 Rugby World Cup
It was the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games, 1992 Cricket World Cup and the 2003 America's Cup. Overseas visitors to New Zealand for the event totalled 133,000, more than the 95,000 that the organisers expected. However, there was a drop in non-event visitors, meaning the net increase in visitors over the previous year was less than 80,000.


2011 Rugby World Cup
The games ran over six weeks, commencing on 9 September 2011 with the opening ceremony showcasing New Zealand's history and diverse cultures. The final was played at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday 23 October 2011, a date chosen because it fell on a long weekend of New Zealand's Labour Day holiday.


2011 Rugby World Cup
After speculation that the number of participating teams would be reduced to 16, the IRB announced on 30 November 2007 that the 2011 tournament would again feature 20 teams. Twelve teams qualified as a result of finishing in the top three in each pool in the 2007 tournament. The remaining eight berths were determined by regional qualifying tournaments. Of the 20 countries that competed in the previous World Cup in 2007, there was only one change – Russia replaced Portugal.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Host selection
Three nations bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup – New Zealand, Japan, and South Africa.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Host selection
New Zealand had co-hosted the first Rugby World Cup with Australia in 1987, and had been set to co-host the 2003 World Cup with Australia before a disagreement over ground signage rights resulted in New Zealand being dropped and Australia became the sole host. The 2011 New Zealand bid contained plans to enlarge the size of Eden Park and other stadiums to help increase the commercial viability of the bid.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Host selection
Japan was bidding to become the first Asian nation to host the first Rugby World Cup. Japan had the necessary infrastructure already in place, by virtue of its co-hosting the 2002 FIFA World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Host selection
South Africa had hosted the tournament in 1995. The 2011 South African bid, led by former national captain Francois Pienaar, had strong support from their national government. South Africa had also won the right to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Host selection
The IRB Council meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005 announced that New Zealand had been selected after IRB inspections of each applicant host nation during June and July 2005.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Costs and benefits
The event was expected to cost about NZ$310 million to run and to generate NZ$280 million in ticket sales. In Auckland, the city where many of the most important games took place, the costs to the local ratepayers alone was estimated at $102 million.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Costs and benefits
Ticket sales exceeding NZ$285 million, accommodation-related spending of another NZ$260 million, and NZ$236 million spent on food and drink was expected to provide a significant fiscal stimulus, of nearly 1.4% of the quarterly GDP.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Concerns
In the years between winning the bid and the staging of the event, New Zealand news media and social agencies cast aspersions on the nation's readiness and appropriate use of national funds for sports infrastructure, as has happened with most large, international, quadrennial, multi-location sporting events of recent decades such as the 2012 Olympics, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Concerns were raised about the process of upgrading Eden Park to expand the capacity to the 60,000 required by the IRB. In late 2008 Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully said the remaining consent process might need to be overridden by legislation for the work to be completed on time.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Concerns
A July 2009 report by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, released under the Official Information Act, warned of lack of readiness and complacency, despite the fact that "the levels of patron movement and operational standard [needed for the RWC] are in reality significantly above what is currently delivered." The report was dismissed by Michael Barnett, the Auckland Chamber of Commerce CEO and planning co-coordinator for RWC events in Auckland, who characterised it as a case of "a Wellington media organisation us[ing] an outdated report".


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Concerns
The nation's largest hospitality workers' union, Unite, which represents 25% of hotel, restaurant and casino workers in New Zealand, demanded that workers share in windfall profits and said there was the possibility of a strike during the tournament.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Concerns
The construction of Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium, known during the tournament as Otago Stadium, was a source of concern as the project was operating in a tight time frame. An April 2010 progress report stated that the project remained on target for completion prior to the Rugby World Cup, although there was a medium level of risk with some significant and potentially damaging concerns. If the project had not been completed on time, organisers would have reverted to Carisbrook as the backup option. Forsyth Barr Stadium was officially opened on 6 August 2011.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Concerns
Damage caused by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake forced the relocation of a number of cup matches, including the quarter finals.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Preparations, Warm-up matches
The 2011 Tri Nations Series was shortened to include only six games instead of the usual nine. It served as the primary preparation for the tournament for Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. In the northern hemisphere, a series of friendlies played in August 2011 replaced the annual tours to the southern hemisphere. North American entrants Canada beat USA in two warm-up friendlies in August 2011.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Qualifying
Twenty teams competed in the 2011 World Cup. Twelve teams qualified by finishing in the top three of their pool in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Qualifying
Twelve of the nations at this tournament had competed in every previous Rugby World Cup – Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, and Wales. All the other sides also had previous World Cup experience, except for Russia who appeared in a Rugby World Cup for the first time.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Qualifying, Qualified teams
The following 20 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the final tournament.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Venues
The 13 venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup were confirmed on 12 March 2009. A number of the venues were redeveloped to increase capacity for the event. The Government considered passing a law bypassing the consent process to allow all the stadiums' redevelopment to be completed in time.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Venues
Due to damage to Stadium Christchurch and many other facilities in Christchurch caused by the earthquake on 22 February 2011, it was announced on 16 March that the matches to be played in the city would be relocated. The two quarter-finals scheduled would be moved to Auckland, while the five pool matches moved to other centres.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Venues
On 10 November 2006, the New Zealand Government announced plans for Stadium New Zealand in Auckland. The proposal was to build the new stadium seating 70,000 on the waterfront. After much public outcry, and lack of support from the Auckland Regional Council, the proposal was dropped in favour of the redevelopment of Eden Park. The redevelopment of Eden Park's Southern and South Western stands was completed during 2010.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Venues
Dunedin's new stadium, Forsyth Barr Stadium (known as Otago Stadium during the tournament), was completed in August 2011 and was used instead of Carisbrook.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Draw
Seeding of teams for the 2011 World Cup was based on their respective IRB World Rankings. The top four at the 2007 Rugby World Cup (South Africa, England, Argentina, and France) were not therefore allocated top pool spots, but "the rankings are now very well established and provide us with a credible and succinct way of seeding teams for the rugby World Cup pool draw", according to Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL) chairman Syd Millar.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Draw
The draw was conducted in December 2008 and used the World Rankings as of 1 December 2008, after the Northern Hemisphere Autumn internationals. The teams were placed into three bands depending on their seedings at the time, with one team from each band in each of the pools. The rankings and bands were therefore: New Zealand (1), South Africa (2), Australia (3) and Argentina (4); Wales (5), England (6), France (7) and Ireland (8); Scotland (9), Fiji (10), Italy (11) and Tonga (12).


2011 Rugby World Cup, Draw
The full draw and venues for the tournament were announced on 12 March 2009.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Draw
The opening match saw the hosts, New Zealand, take on Tonga.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Draw
By coincidence, the final match and third-place playoff match were between the countries which contested the same matches at the first Rugby World Cup, which were also held in New Zealand, in 1987.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Squads
Each country was allowed a squad of 30 players for the tournament. These squads were to be submitted to the International Rugby Board by a deadline of 22 August 2011. Once the squad was submitted a player could be replaced if injured, but would not be allowed to return to the squad. There is also a stand-down period of 72 hours before the new player is allowed to take the field. Hence, a replacement player called into a squad on the eve of a game will not be permitted to play in that game.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Match officials
On 8 April 2011, the IRB named ten referees, seven assistant referees and four television match officials to handle the pool stage games. Two of the seven assistants will also be reserve referees if required.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony for the 2011 Rugby World Cup took place at Eden Park in Auckland on 9 September 2011 at 19:30 (NZST). The ceremony featured a blend of traditional Māori and modern New Zealand culture, and began with a fleet of 26 waka entering the city harbour. It featured traditional haka and sipi tau dances in reference to the opening match between New Zealand and Tonga, and ended with a large pyrotechnics display.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Pool stage
The first round, or pool stage, saw the twenty teams divided into four pools of five teams using the same format that was used in 2003 and in 2007. Each pool was a round-robin of ten games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same pool. Teams were awarded four points for a win, two points for a draw and none for a defeat. A team scoring four or more tries in one match scored a bonus point, as did a team losing by seven or fewer points.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Pool stage
The teams finishing in the top two of each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. The top three teams of each pool have automatically qualified for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Pool stage
If two or more teams were tied on match points, the following tiebreakers would have applied:


2011 Rugby World Cup, Pool stage
Pld = matches played, W = matches won, D = draws, L = losses, TF = tries for, PF = match points for, PA = match points against, +/− = sum total of points for/against, BP = bonus points, Pts = pool points


2011 Rugby World Cup, Statistics
The tournament's top point scorer was South African Morné Steyn, who scored 62 points. Chris Ashton and Vincent Clerc scored the most tries, six in total.


2011 Rugby World Cup, Players of the tournament
Following the completion of the Rugby World Cup, the IRB's Rugby News Service listed the Top 5 players of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. These players were:


2011 Rugby World Cup, Broadcasting
Sky Network Television, New Zealand's largest subscription television provider, was host broadcaster for the Rugby World Cup, transmitting all matches live and in high definition coverage was available. Games were also available on free-to-air networks in New Zealand but not all pool matches were screened live on free to air. Broadcasting rights were allocated throughout the world by the IRB, including highlights, free to air and pay per view.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final
The 2011 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match between France and New Zealand, to determine the winner of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The match took place on 23 October 2011 at Eden Park, in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand won the match 8–7, the slimmest margin by which any Rugby World Cup final has been decided.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final
New Zealand were favourites, as they went into the final unbeaten and the French had lost two pool games, including one to New Zealand. The French team also experienced a player revolt against their coach Marc Lièvremont, confirmed after the tournament by veteran back-rower Imanol Harinordoquy. The match was a close-fought and tight contest with few line-breaks. Each side scored one try and the outcome was determined by kicks – the All Blacks kicked a penalty goal while the French managed only the conversion of their try. The result was the lowest score of any World Cup final.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final
The match echoed the 1987 Rugby World Cup Final which was also held at Eden Park between the same teams. As in the 2007 final, both teams had progressed from the same pool.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final
New Zealand's victory marked the first time that a nation had held both the men's World Cup and Women's Rugby World Cup, as the Black Ferns had won the 2010 tournament.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Match summary, Choice of colours
France won the toss for choice of colours ahead of the final at Eden Park, but agreed to play in their white change kit to allow New Zealand to play in their traditional all-black kit.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Match summary, Haka and French response
After the national anthems, the New Zealand players performed their traditional haka as the French team stared back and then advanced towards them in a V-shaped formation before fanning out into a straight line. The French had decided to meet the haka in this fashion on Sunday morning, and French captain Thierry Dusautoir stated that "it was a great moment". They were later fined £2,500 by the IRB for crossing the half-way line, a decision that was labeled "pedantic" and the "final insult".


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Match summary, First half
In a match of "grim physical attrition", New Zealand scored first. From a line-out in the French 22, Tony Woodcock received the ball and broke through a hole in the French defence to score his first try of the World Cup. Piri Weepu, who had already missed a penalty kick, failed with his conversion effort. Weepu missed another attempt in the 25th minute. Nine minutes later, New Zealand's Aaron Cruden, the team's third choice fly-half, only playing due to injuries to Dan Carter and Colin Slade, hyper-extended his knee, and was replaced by Stephen Donald. The French were forced to defend stoically for much of the first half, due to New Zealand playing a good running game, but late in the half François Trinh-Duc missed a drop goal attempt and had a run to the line cut off by Weepu.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Match summary, Second half
The French came back into the game in the second half, although it did not begin well for them: Dimitri Yachvili missed the team's first penalty attempt after two minutes, and Stephen Donald pushed New Zealand further into the lead by successfully kicking a penalty two minutes later. The French reacted straight away: Trinh-Duc made a run towards the line, and after several attempts, Dusautoir scored a try, which Trinh-Duc converted to take the score to 8–7.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Match summary, Second half
Trinh-Duc attempted a penalty kick from 48 metres in the 65th minute, but missed the goal, and thereafter there were few chances for either side. The French captain, Dusautoir, who was described as "enjoying a heroic game in defence" by The Daily Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher, was named man of the match.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Match summary, Second half
Another historic milestone occurred when Jean-Marc Doussain came on as a late substitute for France. He became the first player ever to make his Test debut in a Rugby World Cup Final.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Match details
Touch judges: Alain Rolland (Ireland) Nigel Owens (Wales)Television match official: Giulio de Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Refereeing controversy
Craig Joubert's refereeing was heavily criticised by the French team and many international observers. Greg Growden writing for The Sydney Morning Herald accused Joubert of "ignoring offside play and breakdown indiscretions that should have cost the home team penalties". Hugh Farrelly interviewed in The Irish Independent stated laconically that "France were significantly better over 80 minutes" and "Craig Joubert did not referee evenly" and "some of the decisions were disgraceful for a game of this magnitude". On the other hand, former French referee Joël Jutge reviewed 24 instances of the game and concluded 17 times Joubert made the correct decisions, four incorrect decisions favoured the All Blacks and three incorrect decisions favoured the French.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Refereeing controversy
Richie McCaw and New Zealand coach Graham Henry pointed out that New Zealand had deliberately tried to play the game in a way that did not result in them conceding penalties, especially in the second half. After the game McCaw expressed surprise that Aurélien Rougerie was not cited by the IRB for gouging at his eyes and noted that the final became "filthy" as it went on but made no mention of Joubert or his performance.


2011 Rugby World Cup Final, Dramatisation
In July 2013, it was announced that a made-for-TV movie, to be called "The Kick", would be made. The telemovie focused on Stephen Donald, and his successful penalty kick early in the second half that ultimately provided the winning points. Donald had been unwanted for the All Blacks squad prior to the final, due to some previous poor international performances. However, injuries to Carter, Slade (both earlier in the tournament), Cruden and Weepu led to the opportunity for a "charming story of redemption". David de Lautour was cast as Donald. The movie debuted on New Zealand television on 10 August 2014.


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A
Pool A of the 2011 Rugby World Cup began on 9 September 2011 and was completed on 2 October. The pool was composed of hosts New Zealand, as well as the fourth-placed team from 2007, France, and Canada, Japan and Tonga. One of the biggest shocks in the history of the tournament came when Tonga beat France by 19 points to 14. On 3 October, it was announced that New Zealand winger Richard Kahui had been voted official Player of Pool A.


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, Overall
All times are local New Zealand time (UTC+12 until 24 September, UTC+13 from 25 September)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, New Zealand vs Tonga
Touch judges:Craig Joubert (South Africa)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, France vs Japan
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, Tonga vs Canada
Touch judges:Steve Walsh (Australia)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, New Zealand vs Japan
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)Jérôme Garcès (France)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, France vs Canada
Touch judges:Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, Tonga vs Japan
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, New Zealand vs France
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, Canada vs Japan
Touch judges:Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, France vs Tonga
Touch judges:Dave Pearson (England)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool A, New Zealand vs Canada
Touch judges:Steve Walsh (Australia)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B
Pool B of the 2011 Rugby World Cup began on 10 September 2011 and was completed on 2 October. The pool was composed of the 2007 runners-up England, as well as the third-placed team from 2007, Argentina, and Georgia, Romania and Scotland.


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Overall
All times are local New Zealand time (UTC+12 until 24 September, UTC+13 from 25 September)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Scotland vs Romania
Touch judges:Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Tim Hayes (Wales)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Argentina vs England
Touch judges:Romain Poite (France)Simon McDowell (Ireland)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Scotland vs Georgia
Touch judges:Simon McDowell (Ireland)Tim Hayes (Wales)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Argentina vs Romania
Touch judges:Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)Simon McDowell (Ireland)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, England vs Georgia
Touch judges:Steve Walsh (Australia)Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, England vs Romania
Touch judges:Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)Simon McDowell (Ireland)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Argentina vs Scotland
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Georgia vs Romania
Touch judges:Romain Poite (France)Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, England vs Scotland
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)Jérôme Garcès (France)Television match official:Tim Hayes (Wales)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Argentina vs Georgia
Touch judges:Dave Pearson (England)Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C
Pool C of the 2011 Rugby World Cup began on 11 September 2011 and was completed on 2 October. The pool was composed of Australia, Ireland, Italy, Russia and the United States. While history would suggest Pool C as a predictable in outcome, this was not the case. A shock win by the Irish over Australia saw Australia finish second in the pool stage for the second time, the first being in 1995 after the loss to the hosts South Africa.


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Overall
All times are local New Zealand time (UTC+12 until 24 September, UTC+13 from 25 September)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Australia v Italy
Touch judges:Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Ireland v United States
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Russia v United States
Touch judges:Craig Joubert (South Africa)Carlo Damasco (Ireland)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Australia v Ireland
Touch judges:Craig Joubert (South Africa)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Italy v Russia
Touch judges:Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Australia v United States
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Television match official:Tim Hayes (Wales)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Ireland v Russia
Touch judges:Dave Pearson (England)Jérôme Garces (France)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Italy v United States
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Australia v Russia
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)Simon McDowell (Ireland)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C, Ireland v Italy
Touch judges:Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D
Pool D of the 2011 Rugby World Cup began on 10 September 2011 and was completed on 2 October. The pool was composed of the current Rugby World Cup holders South Africa, as well as Wales, Samoa, Fiji and Namibia.


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, Overall
All times are local New Zealand time (UTC+12 until 24 September, UTC+13 from 25 September)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, Fiji v Namibia
Touch judges:Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)Jérôme Garces (France)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, South Africa v Wales
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, Samoa v Namibia
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Jérôme Garces (France)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, South Africa v Fiji
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)Vinny Munro (New Zealand)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, Wales v Samoa
Touch judges:Romain Poite (France)Jérôme Garces (France)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, South Africa v Namibia
Touch judges:Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)Tim Hayes (Wales)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, Fiji v Samoa
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, Wales v Namibia
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, South Africa v Samoa
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup Pool D, Wales v Fiji
Touch judges:Craig Joubert (South Africa)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage
The knockout stage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup began on 8 October with a quarter-final between Ireland and Wales and concluded on 23 October with the final at Eden Park in Auckland.


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage
New Zealand were the first team to qualify for the knockout stage, when they beat France 37–17 in their penultimate Pool A game. New Zealand and France re-encountered in the final, that was won by the local team 8–7. This was a rematch of the 1987 final, also in Eden Park and also won by New Zealand. This way, New Zealand got their second title, while France their third final.


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage
For the first time in World Cup history, three teams that finished second in their respective pools qualified for the semi-finals, while South Africa became the second defending champions not to reach the semi-finals after Australia in 1995.


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage
Furthermore, the bottom half of the bracket was entirely composed of the 2012 Rugby Championship teams and the other half was composed of the last four Six Nations champions since the last World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Quarter-finals, Ireland vs Wales
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Romain Poite (France)Television match official:Giulio de Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Quarter-finals, England vs France
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)George Clancy (Ireland)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Quarter-finals, South Africa vs Australia
Touch judges:Dave Pearson (England)Romain Poite (France)Television match official:Giulio de Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Quarter-finals, New Zealand vs Argentina
Touch judges:Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)George Clancy (Ireland)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Semi-finals, Wales vs France
Touch judges:Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)Wayne Barnes (England)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Semi-finals, Australia vs New Zealand
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)Romain Poite (France)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Bronze final, Wales vs Australia
Touch judges:Romain Poite (France)George Clancy (Ireland)Television match official:Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)


2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, Final, France vs New Zealand
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)Nigel Owens (Wales)Television match official:Giulio de Santis (Italy)


2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying
2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying began at the 2007 tournament in France, where twelve teams (the first three in each of the four pools) earned a place in the finals of the tournament, this automatically qualified them for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.


2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying
After much speculation, it was confirmed on 30 November 2007 that 20 teams would contest the next edition of the tournament. The qualification system for the remaining eight places was region-based, with Europe and the Americas allocated two qualifying places, Africa, Asia and Oceania one place each, and the last place determined by a playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying
With 79 teams participating in regional qualifying competitions, and 12 teams qualifying automatically, 91 nations were involved in the process.


2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying, Regional qualifiers
Eight nations qualified from regional competitions: seven qualified directly through their region, and the eighth from a four-nation repechage play-off for the final spot.


2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying, Regional qualifiers, Final place play-off
The twentieth place at the 2011 tournament was determined by a repechage play-off which involved the third-place teams from the American and European qualifying tournaments (Uruguay and Romania). On a home and away basis, Romania prevailed by winning 32–12 in Bucharest, preceded by a 21–21 draw in Montevideo. It competed in Pool B.


2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying, Regional qualifiers, Final place play-off
Both nations had won the repechage semi-finals. Those were conducted as single matches, with the European and African qualifiers drawn into one semi-final and the Asian and Americas qualifiers drawn into the other. Romania beat Tunisia 56–13 and Uruguay had the upper hand over Kazakhstan winning 44–7. Both matches were hosted by the team with the higher IRB World Ranking when the two teams to play became known.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was an international rugby union tournament played in New Zealand from 9 September to 23 October 2011. Each of the 20 competing nations was required to confirm its 30-man squad by 23 August; only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads
Players could be replaced for medical or compassionate reasons, but they would be unable to return to the squad. Any replacement players had an enforced stand-down period of 48 hours before they could take the field.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads
Players marked (c) were the nominated captains for their teams. Number of caps and players' ages are indicated as of 9 September 2011, the tournament's opening day.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads
The tournament was played during the Super Rugby off-season. Players who were released or changed clubs are out-of-contract with their clubs and finished with their 2011 clubs, and in-contract with their national unions and/or future clubs for the 2012 (2011–12 in the Northern Hemisphere) season. Players were listed with their current affiliations as of the opening day of the tournament on 9 September (with some on-going updates during the tournament).


2011 Rugby World Cup squads
Three squads were made up entirely of players from home-based clubs. Two of these, Australia and New Zealand, had players who signed with overseas clubs for the 2011–12 northern hemisphere season. However, all players on both squads played for clubs within their country, either in Super Rugby or New Zealand's domestic ITM Cup, in the preceding 2011 season. In addition, these players remained under contract with their national unions until the end of the World Cup. The third such squad, France, consists entirely of players under contract with French clubs in both 2010–11 and 2011–12.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, Canada
Canada's 30-man squad for the tournament was named on 8 July.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, Canada
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, France
Marc Lièvremont announced his 31-man France squad for the tournament on 21 August. David Skrela was injured and subsequently replaced by Jean-Marc Doussain.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, France
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, Japan
Japan's 30-man squad for the tournament was named on 22 August. Justin Ives and Ryukoliniasi Holani were ruled out with injury, they were replaced by Yuji Kitagawa and Toetsu Taufa. Tomoki Yoshida and Yuta Imamura were ruled out with injury, they were replaced by Ippei Asada and Bryce Robins.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, Japan
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, New Zealand
New Zealand's 30-man squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup was announced on 23 August.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, New Zealand
On 1 October, Dan Carter sustained a tournament-ending groin injury and was replaced in the squad by Aaron Cruden.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, New Zealand
On 9 October, Mils Muliaina sustained a shoulder fracture and Colin Slade suffered a groin tear. Stephen Donald and Hosea Gear were called into the squad to replace them.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, New Zealand
Squad and caps are current as of 10 October 2011.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, Tonga
Tonga's 30-man RWC squad was announced on 23 August. Chairman Bob Tuckey allegedly resigned over the proposed selection of former captain Nili Latu.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool A, Tonga
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, Argentina
Argentina named their squad for the tournament on 10 August 2011. Alvaro Galindo was ruled out with injury and replaced by Genaro Fessia. Gonzalo Tiesi was injured during the England game, he was replaced by Lucas Borges.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, Argentina
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, England
Martin Johnson announced England's 30-man squad on 22 August. Andrew Sheridan was ruled out due to injury and was replaced by Thomas Waldrom on 25 September.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, England
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, Georgia
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, Romania
Romania's 30-man RWC squad. Cătălin Fercu was forced to withdraw after his fear of flying prevented him from travelling to New Zealand; Adrian Apostol replaced him.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, Romania
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool B, Scotland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Australia
The 30-man squad for the RWC was announced on 18 August, with James Horwill replacing Rocky Elsom as the new captain. Wycliff Palu and Drew Mitchell were ruled out after the Russia test, Hodgson and Turner replaced them.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Australia
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Ireland
Ireland's 30-man squad for the tournament was announced on 22 August 2011. Shane Jennings was called up to replace David Wallace after the latter suffered a knee injury in Ireland's final warm-up Test against England. On 14 September Damien Varley was called up to replace Jerry Flannery after Flannery tore his left calf muscle during a training session.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Ireland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Italy
Nick Mallett announced his 30-man squad for the tournament on 22 July. Tommaso D'Apice returned to Italy after damaging ligaments in his left knee and was replaced by Franco Sbaraglini.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Italy
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Russia
Russia announced their 30-man squad for the tournament on 23 August. Igor Galinovskiy was ruled out with a broken leg, Sergey Trishin replaced him.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, Russia
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, United States
Eddie O'Sullivan announced his 30-man squad for the tournament on 22 August.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool C, United States
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, Fiji
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, Namibia
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, Samoa
Coach Fuimaono Tafua's 30-man Samoa squad for the tournament was announced on 24 August.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, Samoa
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, South Africa
On 23 August, South Africa named a 30-man squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Zane Kirchner replaced the injured François Steyn on 2 October.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, South Africa
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, Wales
On 22 August, Wales named a 30-man squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Pool D, Wales
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Player statistics, Average age of squads
Taylor Paris of Canada was the youngest player named to a squad at 18, while Russia's Viacheslav Grachev, 38, was the oldest. However, Paris did not appear in any of Canada's matches, making Wales' 19-year-old George North the youngest to actually appear in the World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup squads, Player statistics, Squad caps
South Africa had the most capped side in the World Cup with 1,224 caps. The most-capped player at the tournament was Brian O'Driscoll of Ireland, who entered the event with 113 caps for Ireland (not counting his appearances with the British and Irish Lions). Second on this list was his teammate Ronan O'Gara with 111.


2011 Rugby World Cup statistics
This article documents statistics from the 2011 Rugby World Cup, held in New Zealand  from 9 September to 23 October.


2011 Rugby World Cup statistics, Team statistics
The following table shows the team's results in major statistical categories.


2011 Rugby World Cup statistics, Hat-tricks
Unless otherwise noted, players in this list scored a hat-trick of tries.


2011 Rugby World Cup statistics, Discipline
In total, two red cards and 18 yellow cards were issued during the tournament.


2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches
Throughout July and August 2011, various teams played Test match and non-test match fixtures for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. The matches were primarily in the Northern Hemisphere involving the Six Nations Championship teams. Although Tier 2 European sides did play some fixtures against domestic clubs from the Aviva Premiership and Pro12.


2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches, Fixtures
Touch judges: George Clancy David ChanglengTelevision match official:  Jim Yullie


2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches, Fixtures
Touch judges: Dave Pearson Stuart TerheegeTelevision match official: Graham Warren


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification
In the African Regional Qualifying Process, 14 of the 15 eligible IRB member nations took part (South Africa had already qualified from Rugby World Cup 2007).


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification
The Qualifying process began with playoffs in May, 2008. The 2008–09 Africa Cup doubled as the qualifying tournament, with the winner being Africa's direct qualifier. The runner-up of the tournament will be entered into the four team World Cup playoff for the 20th 2011 Rugby World Cup finalist berth.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification
The Cup was decided first by four pools of three teams with the pool winners qualifying for the semi-finals.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification
Namibia swept Tunisia in a two-legged final, qualifying for Pool D of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, while Tunisia advanced to the Final Place Playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification, Preliminary Round: May 2008
Two single legged playoffs were used to cut the nations down from the 14 eligible nations to the 12 who would compete for the 2008–09 Africa Cup. Preliminary round teams were the lowest ranked teams in the north and south respectively. Nigeria and Swaziland were eliminated in this round.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification, Round 1: June / August 2008
Pool winners qualified for the semi-finals. Pools were determined through world rankings.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification, Round 3: Qualification Final
Namibia and Tunisia competed for Africa's automatic place in the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals in New Zealand over two legs, with Namibia qualifying for their fourth consecutive world cup. Tunisia faced Romania, the third-placed team from Europe, in the Semi-Finals of the Play-off series.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification, Round 3: Qualification Final
Namibia won the series 2-0, with an aggregate score of 40-23.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification
In the American Region for Rugby World Cup Qualifying, two teams, Canada and USA, qualified directly to the world cup and the third place, Uruguay, entered a playoff against the third place European team and the second place African and Asian teams.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification
The qualification process started with regional qualification tournaments. First a Caribbean tournament in the Cayman Islands during April 2008, was won by Trinidad and Tobago. South America's Second Division 2008 South American Rugby (division B) was the next tournament to take place. Brazil won on the final day in Paraguay.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification
The two regional champions advanced to a playoff to decide who would face Uruguay and Chile in Round 3A. Brazil won both legs of the two-match series for the right to participate in the 2009 South American Rugby Championship A Division, which was won by Uruguay. Uruguay then faced the United States to determine the Americas 2 seed.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification
On July 11, 2009, Canada claimed the Americas 1 seed, making them the first team to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The USA followed on November 21 to claim the Americas 2 seed, sending Uruguay to the playoffs for the final place.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification
18 teams participated in the qualifying process. For 2007 there were 19. Changes in participation levels were due to Argentina earning a spot in the 2011 tournament with their performance in 2007, Saint Lucia not participating, and Mexico making their Rugby World Cup qualifying debut.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 1A (Caribbean Regional Tournament) - April 2008
The Caribbean Regional Championships held in the Cayman Islands was the first Qualifying event for the Rugby World Cup 2011. The Tournament included the nine eligible IRB members from the Caribbean & Central America. Mexico was competing in their first major international competition as one of the IRB's newest members. The Mexicans faced Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in a preliminary qualifying match to determine the final eight. The match was played at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In addition to determining a champion, the tournament played out each final position.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 1A (Caribbean Regional Tournament) - April 2008
The tournament was won by Trinidad and Tobago who advanced to Round 2 of the qualifying process. The main tournament was hosted by the Cayman Islands, with all matches being played at Truman Bodden Stadium in George Town. Attendance at this tournament varied throughout, but the maximum attendance was calculated at 1,395 during the final.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 1B (South American Consur B Championships) - June 2008
This round is also the 2008 South American Rugby Championship B Division, a competition for second tier South American nations. The tournament was played at Colegio de San José in Asuncion, Paraguay in June 2008. The winners were Brazil who beat hosts Paraguay on the final day. They advanced to Round 2 to face Trinidad and Tobago. Brazil and Paraguay were promoted to the Division A of the Consur.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 2 (Regional Champions Playoff)
This playoff was between the two regional champions of Round 1. The winner of the playoff progressed to join Uruguay and Chile in Round 3A.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 2 (Regional Champions Playoff)
Brazil advanced by winning the series two matches to none.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 3A (South America Consur A Championships) - April/May 2009
This round was also the 2009 South American Rugby Championship A Division, a competition for first tier South American nations. The tournament was played in Montevideo, Uruguay (with the exception of the first match played in Viña del Mar, Chile) in April and May 2009. Paraguay participated in the tournament; however, their participation was limited to the Consur A Championship and their results had no bearing on Rugby World Cup qualifying. Uruguay, who defeated Chile and Brazil, qualified for Round 4 to face the loser of Round 3B.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 3B (North American Qualification Playoff)
This round was a two legged playoff between the USA and Canada. The winner, Canada, qualified for Pool A of the 2011 Rugby World Cup as Americas 1; the USA moved on to Round 4.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 3B (North American Qualification Playoff)
Series drawn 1-1. Canada won on aggregate 47 - 30.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification, Round 4 (Final American Qualification Playoff)
This two-legged playoff between Uruguay, the winner of South American Qualification (Round 3A), and the USA, the loser of the North American Playoff (Round 3B) qualified the United States for Pool C of the Rugby World Cup as Americas 2, while Uruguay advanced to the Final Place Playoff as Americas 3 to face Kazakhstan (the second place Asian team) in the semifinal.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification
Asia's world cup qualifiers will be centred on its flagship tournament, the Asian Five Nations. The winner of the 2010 tournament will qualify, but to give all teams a chance of qualification the 2008 and 2009 seasons will also be part of the qualification process. In total, 13 teams participated in the qualifying tournament, as in 2007, with 12 of the teams being the same (Guam competed in 2007, but were replaced by Pakistan in the 2011 qualification process).


2011 Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification, Round 1
Due to the nature of the qualifying process, 2008 was the only year that a Division Two nation could continue in the process to qualify for 2011 Rugby World Cup. Since the winner of the 2010 Asian Five Nations will be Asia's representative, there would not be enough time for any team competing in or below Division Two after 2008 to reach the top division in time, rendering them effectively eliminated. The tournament was played in June 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand and was won by the hosts who were promoted, thus continuing their qualification hopes. The last place team from Division One was to face relegation to Division Two for 2009, effectively eliminating them from qualification as well. China was unable to compete in Division One due to visa complications and they were relegated to Division Two, last placed Sri Lanka stayed up.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification, Round 2
Due to the nature of the qualifying process, 2009 was the last chance that a Division One nation could continue in the process to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Since the winner of the 2010 Asian Five Nations will be Asia's representative, any team competing in Division One after 2009 will be effectively eliminated. The last place team from the 2009 Asian Five Nations Top Five, Singapore, was relegated to Division One, eliminating them from qualification. The Arabian Gulf team won the 2009 Division One tournament on April 11 to earn promotion to the 2010 Asian Five Nations Top Five and remain in contention for qualification to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification, Round 3
The winner of this tournament, Japan, qualified for the Pool A of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, where they faced New Zealand, France, Tonga, and Canada. Kazakhstan, the runner up advanced to the semifinal of the 20th Place Playoff to face Uruguay.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification
In the European Regional Rugby World Cup Qualifying, two teams, Georgia and Russia, qualified directly to the World Cup, and Romania, the third place team, entered a playoff against the second place African team, Tunisia.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification
The Qualification process primarily based around the 2008–2010 European Nations Cup. The top two teams in the 2008-2010 European Nations Cup First Division qualified directly to New Zealand.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification
The third placed team entered a playoff series against the champions of Division 2A, and the leaders of the remaining divisions (excluding 3D) as of the end of the 2008–2009 season. The winner of this playoff, Romania, entered a playoff to decide the 20th place at Rugby World Cup 2011.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 1
Georgia, the winner of Division 1 qualified for Pool B of Rugby World Cup 2011 as Europe 1, and Russia the runner-up, for Pool C as Europe 2. Romania, the third placed team, entered at Round 5 of Round 2's Playoff Series. Numbers in parentheses indicate world ranking at the start of the tournament.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 2A
The winner of the division, Ukraine, qualified for Round 4 of Round 2's Playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 2A
1 The match between Poland and Moldova was originally scheduled for April 10, 2010, but was postponed after the death of Poland's president, Lech Kaczyński, earlier that day. The match was moved to January 1, 2011.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 2B
The leader of the division at the end of the 2008–2009 season, Netherlands, qualified for Round 3 of Round 2's Playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 3A
The leader of the division at the end of the 2008–2009 season, Lithuania, qualified for Round 2 of Round 2's Playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 3A
Armenia were ranked ahead of Serbia and Andorra were ranked ahead of Switzerland based on head-to-head results.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 3A
All four remaining matches were scratched as Lithuania had already won the group.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 3B
The leader of the division at the end of the 2008–2009 season, Slovenia, qualified for Round 1 of Round 2's Playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification, Round 1: European Nations Cup 2008–2010, Division 3C
The leader of the division at the end of the 2008–2009 season, Israel, qualified for Round 1 of Round 2's Playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Oceania qualification
There was one qualifier for Rugby World Cup 2011 from the Oceania region. The qualifying process began with the 2009 Oceania Nations Cup, with the winner going on to play Samoa.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Oceania qualification
The first stage was the four team Oceania Nations Cup. The Cup was played as a straight knock-out. The winner then advanced to the final qualifier against Samoa, a two legged playoff to decide the Oceania Qualifier who faced South Africa, Wales, Fiji, and the African qualifier (Namibia) in Pool D


2011 Rugby World Cup – Oceania qualification
Oceania was the only region not to send a team to the 20th place playoff.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Oceania qualification, Round 1: Oceania Cup
Papua New Guinea won the 2009 Oceania Cup and advanced to Round 2.


2011 Rugby World Cup – Oceania qualification, Round 2: Oceania final
Samoa won 188-19 on aggregate and progressed to the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals as Oceania 1.


2011 Rugby World Cup – repechage qualification
The 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying process ended with a play-off to decide the 20th and final qualifier. Four teams, the best non-qualifier from each region except Oceania, competed for the last place at the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals in New Zealand. Romania beat Uruguay in the play-off final, and went on to compete in Pool B in New Zealand, along with Argentina, England, Scotland and Georgia.


2011 Rugby World Cup – repechage qualification
The play-off was contested on a knockout basis, with a semi-final and a two-legged home and away final. One semi-final featured Romania, the winner of the European Nations Cup Champions Playoff Series, defeating Tunisia, the loser of the African final. The other saw Uruguay, the loser of Round Four of the Americas qualification, beat Kazakhstan, the second-place finisher at the 2010 Asian Five Nations.


2011 Rugby World Cup – repechage qualification
The host of each semi-final was the team with the higher IRB Ranking at the moment when it became known who the two teams were.


2011 Rugby World Cup – repechage qualification
Romania won the final over Uruguay with a victory and a draw to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.


2011 Rugby World Cup – repechage qualification, Participants
* IRB World Rankings on 22 May 2010, the date that both the Asia and Americas qualifiers were known. * * IRB World Rankings on 5 June 2010, the date that both the African and European qualifiers were known.


2011 Runnymede Borough Council election
The 2011 Runnymede Borough Council election took place in May 2011 to fill 14 open seats on the Runnymede Borough District Council. The Conservative Party swept the elections, earning nearly 86% of the seats with only 53% of votes cast.


2011 Rushcliffe Borough Council election
The 2011 Rushcliffe Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Rushcliffe Borough Council in Nottinghamshire, England. The whole council was up for election.


2011 Rushcliffe Borough Council election, By-Elections between May 2011 - May 2015
By-elections are called when a representative Councillor resigns or dies, so are unpredictable. A by-election is held to fill a political office that has become vacant between the scheduled elections.


2011 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 2011 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships will be held in Penza, Russia in February for WAG.


2011 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Medal winners
Samara's Anna Dementyeva captured the women's all-around title Wednesday as the 2011 Russian Gymnastics Championships began Wednesday at Burtasy Sports Hall in Penza.


2011 Russian Cup
The 2011 Russian Cup (Russian: Кубок России 2011 Год) was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, from 15-21 August 2011.


2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships
The 2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships (Russian: Чемпионат России по фигурному катанию на коньках 2011) was held on December 26–29, 2010 in Saransk. The junior competition was held on February 2–4, 2011 in Kazan. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.


2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships
The results could be used to help determine the teams for the 2011 World Championships and the 2011 European Championships.


2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships, Junior Championships
The 2011 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships were held in Kazan on February 2–4, 2011.


2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships, International team selections, European Championships
The team to the 2011 European Championships was announced as follows:


2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships, International team selections, Winter Universiade
The team for the 2011 Winter Universiade was announced as follows:


2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships, International team selections, World Championships
The team to the 2011 World Championships was announced following the results of the European Championships.


2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships, International team selections, World Junior Championships
The team to the 2011 World Junior Championships was announced as follows:


2011 Russian Open Grand Prix
The 2011 Russian Open Grand Prix was a badminton tournament which took place at the Sport Hall Olympic in Vladivostok, Russia on 28 June–3 July 2011 and had a total purse of $50,000.


2011 Russian Professional Rugby League season
The 2011 Russian Professional Rugby League season will be the seventh edition of the competition since its transition from the Super League.


2011 Russian Professional Rugby League season
The reigning champions, VVA Monino will be attempting to secure a recording breaking ninth championship and overtake Krasny Yar as the most successful Russian rugby union side in the professional era.


2011 Russian Professional Rugby League season
There have again been a number of changes and events taking place behind the scenes at the Russian Rugby Union. At the start of the season, rumours spread that the league would again expand, possibly to as many as fifteen (15) teams. Of the potential new entrants, the most likely entrant was a team based in the city of Kazan, a former "stronghold" of rugby league in Russia.


2011 Russian Professional Rugby League season
However, due to the commitments of the national team at the World Cup, it was decided that there would be no new teams added to the competition. To compensate, a lower division was created, called the First Division, wherein seven teams will compete for the chance to be promoted to the "Super League".


2011 Russian Professional Rugby League season, Competition format
Details of this season's competition format have not yet been decided.


2011 Russian Super Cup
The 2011 Russian Football Super Cup (Russian: Суперкубок России по футболу) was the 9th Russian Super Cup match, a football match which was contested between the 2010 Russian Premier League champion and 2009–10 Russian Cup champion, Zenit Saint Petersburg, and the runner-up of 2010 Russian Premier League, CSKA Moscow. The match was held on 6 March 2011 at the Kuban Stadium in Krasnodar, Russia of which Zenit St. Petersburg won that match.


2011 Russian Super Cup, Match details
Assistant referees:Aleksei Lebedev (Saint Petersburg)Viktor Kulagin (Moscow)Fourth official:Vladislav Bezborodov (Saint Petersburg)


2011 Russian legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Russia on 4 December 2011. At stake were the 450 seats in the 6th State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly (the legislature). United Russia won the elections with 49.32% of the vote, taking 238 seats or 52.88% of the Duma seats.


2011 Russian legislative election
This result was down from 64.30% of the vote and 70% of the seats in the 2007 elections. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation received 19.19% of the vote and 92 seats, while A Just Russia received 13.24% and 64 seats, with the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia getting 56 seats with 11.67% of the vote. Yabloko, Patriots of Russia and Right Cause did not cross the 7% election threshold. The list of parties represented in the parliament did not change.


2011 Russian legislative election
United Russia lost the two-thirds constitutional majority it had held prior to the election, but it still won a majority of seats in the Duma, even though it had slightly less than 50% of the popular vote. The Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia all gained new seats compared to the previous 2007 elections.


2011 Russian legislative election
The election received various assessments from abroad: positive from the Commonwealth of Independent States observers, mixed from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and critical from some European Union representatives and the United States. Reports of election fraud and voter discontent with the current government led to major protests particularly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The government and United Russia were in their turn supported by rallies of the youth organizations Nashi and Young Guard.


2011 Russian legislative election
Later, the actions of anti-government protesters sparked the fear of a colour revolution in Russian society, and a number of the "anti-Orange" protests were set up (the name alludes to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the most widely known color revolution to Russians) including one on the Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, the largest protest action of all the protests so far according to the police.


2011 Russian legislative election
The Central Electoral Commission issued a report on 3 February 2012, in which it said that it received a total of 1686 reports on irregularities, of which only 195 (11.5%) were confirmed true after investigation, a third (584) actually contained questions about the unclear points of electoral law, and only 60 complaints claimed falsifications of the elections results. On 4 February 2012 the Investigation Committee of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation announced that the majority of videos allegedly showing falsifications at polling stations were falsified themselves.


2011 Russian legislative election
Statistical analysis of poll data have shown massive abnormalities that most researchers explain bymass-scale electoral fraud.


2011 Russian legislative election, Electoral system
The threshold for eligibility to win seats is 7.0 percent. In addition, a party which receives between 5.0 and 6.0 percent will get 1 seat in the Duma and those which receive between 6.0 and 7.0 percent will get 2 seats.


2011 Russian legislative election, Political parties
All seven registered political parties were approved to participate in the elections. Parties which were present in the State Duma (United Russia, Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia) were automatically eligible to participate in the elections. Other parties needed to present at least 150,000 signatures (with a maximum of 5000 signatures per region) to the Central Electoral Commission before 19 October.


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign
There was relatively little sign of campaign activity on the ground: few posters, few street agitators, and few people gathering at non-United Russia campaign rallies. Candidates debates were often brief and aired at odd times of day (such as 7 a.m. on First Channel) and typically featured strange pairings of parties and not always the top figures on their party lists.


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign, United Russia
The main parliamentary party, the ruling United Russia headed by Vladimir Putin (he is not a member of the party, yet he is its leader), went into the next elections with a renewed platform. Putin announced the creation of a pre-election People's Front to allow non-party candidates (up to 25%) to win election on the United Russia ticket. At the party conference which nominated Putin to the presidency and Medvedev to head the party list leader, the pre-election program was published, with 8 basic guidelines:


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign, United Russia
This program was reportedly constructed from excerpts taken from speeches previously given by Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev.


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign, United Russia
United Russia Party Chairman Putin and party list leader Medvedev did not participate in them at all. Television campaign ads were not frequently aired, and what ads that ran tended to be of strikingly low production value.


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign, A Just Russia
A Just Russia (Russian: Spravedlivaya Rossia) hoped that being  "persecuted by the authorities" will give it a more useful oppositional image. The party managed to turn itself into a credible receptacle for anti-United Russia votes through an aggressive campaign attacking the party. While some of its critical ads were blocked, it still managed to air others that blasted official corruption and declared that "swindlers and thieves" (a clear implicit reference to United Russia) were not needed.


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign, The Communist Party
In its programme entitled "The majority is destined to win. Return the Motherland stolen from us! ", the CPRF promoted a stronger role of the state in the political and social sphere and the nationalization of mineral resources and other raw materials. It called for a re-appraisal of Russia's foreign policy posture, the creation of a 'Union of Brotherhood' on the territory of the former Soviet Union, a stronger role for the United Nations and the dissolution of NATO.


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign, The Communist Party
The CPRF demanded 'genuine democratisation' of the Russian political system including a stronger role for the parliament, the restoration of regional elections, and the confiscation of property acquired through corruption. It tasked itself with representing the 'patriotic majority' of the population in the parliament and with making sure that executive power is being exercised for the sake of the common good.


2011 Russian legislative election, Campaign, The Liberal Democratic party
In the run-up to this election, the party had been highlighting the need to defend the interests of ethnic Russians, although it had generally been careful not to cross the line into openly nationalist rhetoric.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Alleged foreign involvement
In the pre-election campaign period the GOLOS Association watchdog was the largest organization independent from participating parties that reported on campaign violations. The online service it set up to collect reports recorded 5,300 complaints regarding violations of electoral law. Most of the violations were linked to United Russia and about a third of the complaints were from state employees and students who said they were pressured by their employers/professors to vote for United Russia.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Alleged foreign involvement
On 1 December 2011 prosecutors in Moscow served GOLOS with papers alleging that the organisation had portrayed an unnamed political party in a bad light. The unnamed party has been identified as being United Russia. On 2 November a Moscow court fined GOLOS 30 000 roubles (about US$1000) for violations of the electoral law of Russia.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Alleged foreign involvement
On 8 December, the news portal Life claimed it had received access to 60 Mb of correspondence between GOLOS administration and USAID (a federal government agency of the United States), and correspondence between GOLOS administration and its activists. The correspondence showed reports to USAID on how USAID funds received by GOLOS were spent. Also, the correspondence showed that activists received money for working on every report about a violation. Earlier, on 2 December, NTV channel showed an investigative documentary film, "Голос ниоткуда" (Golos niotkuda, translated as "Voice from nowhere" or "Vote from nowhere"), accusing GOLOS of making propaganda paid for by foreign money, in particular from the United States.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities
During and after the election international media and local independent websites reported serious irregularities during the election, including ballot stuffing, misuse of state resources, media bias and lack of impartiality by the election commission. The Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported more than 1,100 official complaints filed of election irregularities across the country, including vote fraud, obstruction of observers and illegal campaigning.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Reports by participating parties
Members of the A Just Russia, Yabloko and Communist parties reported that certain voters were shuttled between polling stations, casting several ballots. The Yabloko and Liberal Democratic parties reported that some of their observers had been banned from witnessing the sealing of the ballot boxes and from gathering video footage, and others groundlessly expelled from polling stations. The ruling United Russia party alleged that opposition parties broke campaign law by distributing leaflets and newspapers at polling stations, and that at some polling stations the voters were ordered to vote for the Communist party with threats of violence.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Reports by independent groups and observers
At a number of polling stations throughout the country, observers reported that final results published by the Central Election Commission differed drastically from results recorded by observers, with the "official" numbers sometimes showing the United Russia vote inflated by a factor of two or three. Carousel voting was also observed in many areas.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Reports by independent groups and observers
In Moscow, the opposition activist group Citizen Observer estimated that United Russia had stolen 17% of the popular vote from other parties.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Reports by independent groups and observers
In Saint Petersburg, independent activist group Right to Elect ("Право выбора") attempted to register all differences between observers' protocols and the data of the Central Election Commission. They found that comparable shares of differences in votes were in favour not only of the United Russia, but of CPRF and LDPR parties as well (2.68%, 1.49% and 2.67% respectively as of the data on 13 December).


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Reports by international observers
International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) documented numerous violations of electoral law. They found that whilst the preparations for the elections were technically well administered, they were marked by a "convergence of the State and the governing party". They said they witnessed "undue interference of state authorities", "partiality of most media" and "lack of independence of the election administration". Denying registration to some political parties narrowed political competition, according to the OSCE. The OCSE concluded that "This...did not provide the necessary conditions for fair electoral competition."


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Reports by international observers
However, international observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States reported that the elections "were held legally and without serious violations." Yet given government's control over the Central Electoral Commission and the exclusion of many independent observers from participation in monitoring voting and vote tabulation, it is exceedingly difficult to assess the degree of falsification in the election.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Official reaction to the reports on irregularities
According to Vladimir Putin's Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, the known accumulated volume of all reports on falsifications affects no more than 0.5% of total votes, and so this could not be a basis to reconsider the results of the elections.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Official reaction to the reports on irregularities
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev called for an investigation of all reports on irregularities, but voiced his disagreement with slogans and calls by the protesters on the post-election meetings.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Official reaction to the reports on irregularities
Yury Chaika, the Prosecutor General of Russia, said that the data on falsifications will be analyzed, but said also that violations were local and didn't affect the overall result, and that therefore there is no reason to cancel the results of the elections.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Other irregularities
Various Russian liberal news websites reported experiencing denial of service attacks on the day of the election. United Russia was able to score 99.48% in the Chechen Republic and got to a lesser degree similar results in the neighbouring republics, a curiosity which was picked up by many international newspapers.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Irregularities, Other irregularities
The group's leader Lilya Shibanova was detained for twelve hours at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on 2 December, and released only after giving her laptop to security personnel there.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Investigation of the reports on irregularities, Official reports to the Central Electoral Commission
The Central Electoral Commission issued a report on 3 February 2012, in which it said that it received the total of 1686 reports on irregularities, of which only 195 (11.5%) were confirmed true after investigation. About a third of reports (584) actually contained questions about the unclear points of electoral law rather than reports of irregularities, and there were only 60 complaints claiming falsifications of the elections results.


2011 Russian legislative election, Conduct, Investigation of the reports on irregularities, Investigation of videos
On 4 February 2012 the Investigation Committee of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation announced that the majority of videos allegedly showing falsifications at polling stations were in fact falsified and originally distributed from a single server in California. However, others (such as GOLOS) pointed out firstly, that 'falsification' was deemed to be 'editing' ('монтаж') – something unavoidable in fitting potentially hours of footage into a short internet clip, and secondly that "the server in California" might actually just be YouTube.


2011 Russian legislative election, Results
United Russia won the elections with a 49.32% share of votes (238 seats; 52.88% of Duma seats), down from 64.30% (70% of seats) in the 2007 elections. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation received 19.19% (92 seats), while the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia got 11.67% (56 seats) and A Just Russia 13.24% (64 seats). Other parties did not cross the 7% election threshold, and the list of parties in the parliament did not change.


2011 Russian legislative election, Results
United Russia lost its two-thirds constitutional majority, but still won an absolute majority. The Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia all got a higher level of representation in the parliament compared to the previous 2007 elections.


2011 Russian legislative election, Aftermath
On 4 November 2011, a month before elections, during the annual "Russian March" event representatives of the nationalist The Russians movement declared a protest action to begin on the election day after polling closes. As there was no official rally permit, the action was unapproved. It took place on 4 December at 21.00 in Moscow. Spokesman Alexander Belov declared the beginning of the  «Putin, go away!» campaign. Several hundred people participated in the protest, which resulted in running battles with riot police. The Russians leaders Alexander Belov, Dmitry Dyomushkin, George Borovikov and dozens of other nationalists were arrested. The head of the banned DPNI organization Vladimir Yermolaev was detained at a voting station where he was an observer. Also, mass detentions from other public organizations have occurred in Moscow. According to police some 258 persons have been detained.


2011 Russian legislative election, Aftermath
On 5 December, up to 8,000 opponents of the government began protesting in Moscow, denouncing Vladimir Putin and his government and what they believed were flawed elections. Protesters argued that the elections had been a sham and demanded that Putin step down, whilst some demanded revolution.


2011 Russian legislative election, Aftermath
On 6 December, 15,000 pro-United Russia activists marched near Red Square with 2,000 gathering in a different downtown location, while 5,000 people marched in protest at the same time. Truckloads of soldiers and police, as well as a water cannon, were deployed ahead of expected anti-government protests. 300 protesters had been arrested in Moscow the night before, along with 120 in St. Petersburg.


2011 Russian legislative election, Aftermath
During the night of 6 December, at least 600 protesters were reported to be in Triumphalnaya Square chanting slogans against Putin, Meanwhile, anti-government protesters at Revolution Square near the Kremlin clashed with riot police and interior ministry troops, with the police chasing around 100 away and arresting others. Protest numbers later reached over 1,000 at Triumphalnaya Square and dozens were arrested, including Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader and former deputy prime minister, and Alexey Navalny, a top blogger and activist.


2011 Russian legislative election, Aftermath
The government and United Russia were supported by massive meetings of the youth organizations, such as a 15,000-strong rally of Nashi and an 8,000 rally of the Young Guard on 6 December. On 12 December, the 18th anniversary of the Constitution of Russia, a meeting of pro-Kremlin groups supported Putin and United Russia and celebrated the Constitution.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Comparison with exit polls and forecasts
It is not possible to compare exit polls to the numbers reported by the election commission because no nationwide exit polls were conducted outside of the government. The only nationwide exit polls were conducted by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) – the government-run polling organization controlled by the Labor Ministry. Therefore, there were no independent nationwide exit polls that took place during the elections.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Comparison with exit polls and forecasts
However, United Russia's final result, 49.32%, not only coincided with the Central Election Commission's exit poll figure of 48.5%, but actually fell somewhat below the results of pre-election surveys by the Levada Center, the foremost non-governmental, independent polling and sociological research organization in Russia. Levada Center polls in September–November, listed above, found levels of support for United Russia between 51% and 60%.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Comparison with exit polls and forecasts
The Election Commission reported that United Russia was also the leader in Moscow, with 46.5% of the vote. However, one early exit poll indicated that the share of United Russia was only 27%. The difference was attributed by some journalists to election fraud. The organization that provided the 27% figure subsequently withdrew its estimate, citing its low accuracy.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Comparison with exit polls and forecasts
A large number of violations captured on observers' mobile phones suggest that the numbers provided by the election commission were fraudulent. In one report from Moscow, a Yabloko observer captured the pre-filled final tabulation in the regional election commission showing 515 (75.8%) votes for United Russia for his election station No. 6, while the records of the station No. 6 showed mere 128 (18.9%) votes for United Russia. This casts more doubts on the legitimacy of the figures of the exit polls and overall votes reported by the government.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Statistics
Analysis by the physicist Sergey Shpilkin published by Gazeta.ru, Lenta.Ru, Troitsky Variant and with others in Esquire Russia reported on several characteristics of the election results which they view as evidence of fraud. Unlike elections in some other countries with a similar voting system, voter turnout does not display a normal distribution, and has distinct peaks appearing at multiples of 5%. Voter turnout exhibits a nearly linear relationship with the portion voting for United Russia, thus implying ballot stuffing in favor of UR.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Statistics
The distribution of percent voting for each party is not close to normal for United Russia either, unlike other parties. Similarly, percentages cast for United Russia have characteristic spikes at the round values of 50%, 60%, 70%, etc. Critics say, such a distribution might be a result of mass-scale fraud when local election commissions struggle to meet a certain objective, e.g. "60% for United Russia".


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Statistics
Similar spikes also occurred in the 2007 Russian elections, and the political scientists Mikhail Myagkov, Peter Ordeshook and researcher Dmitri Shakin wrote that they are "consistent with the hypothesis that turnout numbers were manufactured artificially, with simple rounded numbers entered into official protocols." A team from Imperial College in London analysed the results and announced in May 2012 that they too suspected extensive fraud.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Statistics
The Wall Street Journal, working with political scientists from the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago, published their own analysis of the election results, and pointed out a number of features which they believe indicate fraud. They estimate that as many as 14 million of the 65.7 million votes may be fraudulent.


2011 Russian legislative election, Analysis, Statistics
An article published in Polit Online looked at criticisms of the analysis. The supposition of Gaussian distribution was criticized by sociologist Aleksey Grazhdankin, a Deputy Director of Levada Center (top independent non-governmental polling and sociological research organization in Russia). Grazhdankin cites regional differences and the existence of the so-called "electoral enclaves" in Russia, which vote very differently from the surrounding areas, often because the recent rise of the quality of life in such enclaves is associated with the actions of the authorities. Grazhdankin says he does not believe the graphs with non-Gaussian distributions indicate vote fraud. Still, in his comment to Vedomosti, Grazhdankin claimed that the most likely explanation to abnormal results observed in Moscow is fraud. Statistician Mikhail Simkin has also argued that the vote distribution should not be necessarily normal.


2011 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team
The 2011 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented Rutgers University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Scarlet Knights were led by 11th year head coach Greg Schiano and played their home games at High Point Solutions Stadium. They are a member of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 4–3 in Big East play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They were invited to the Pinstripe Bowl where they defeated Iowa State 27–13.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests
The 2011 Rutgers Tuition Protests were a series of primarily student-led public education reform initiatives at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Faced with rising education costs, diminished state subsidies and the possibility of a non-existent tuition cap, campus groups (including the Rutgers Student Union, the Rutgers One Coalition and the Rutgers University Student Assembly, supported by New Jersey United Students), mobilized to keep the increase in annual student financial obligation to a minimum through marches, sit-ins, letters to administration officials, and forums.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, State and federal legislation
The Pell Grant, a federal annuity of $5,500 available to low-income students, faced a relatively steep cut in 2011 as Republicans in the United States House of Representatives pushed for further limits on discretionary spending. In 2008, this program provided in excess of $31 million to over 10,000 Rutgers University students.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, State and federal legislation
Rich Williams, an advocate of the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, stated that grants are the principal method in which the federal government can assist students in battling rising college tuition costs. He opined that if changes are made to the current program, 1.5 million students would be at risk of losing their funding, while the remaining 7.7 million students could see a 15 percent drop in the amount of attainable awards. During the 2010–2011 academic year, 68 percent of Rutgers students reportedly borrowed through a federal loan program at some point in their collegiate career.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, State and federal legislation
Governor Chris Christie's proposed budget showed a $25 million increase in tuition aid for college students. On the other hand, there are combined decreases of $7.7 million in state funding for the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship program and other student aid programs. David Redlawsk, poll director, stated that the governor understands the state's responsibility to do more for higher education and is protecting the University.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, Tuition policy
Typical in-state students pay $12,755 annually in tuition and mandatory fees, excluding room and board, while out-of-state students pay $25,417 in tuition and fees. A breakdown of the tuition and fees (by semester) is as follows: tuition, campus fee, school fee, off-campus campus fee, dormitory charges, meal plan, computer fee, NJPIRG fee, Targum fee and course fee. According to the Rutgers University Board of Governors, tuition and fee rates are set in July.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, Contributing factors
At a glance the cause of the Rutgers tuition protests appear to be simple; however, further scrutiny in the matter reveal local, state and federal involvement to play a more central role in these events. Three years ago, Rutgers froze pay raises on staff and faculty. The union decided in good faith to share the burden with the University and withheld raises for one year. Since then, the University still has not paid raises, amounting to $40 million.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, Contributing factors
In addition, the American Association of University Professors recently funded an independent research on the University's budget, conducted by Howard Bunsis of Eastern Michigan University. Test results showed that the faculty's salary raises were stagnant despite a $177 million surplus in the budget the previous year. The University has yet to confirm this study's analysis.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, Contributing factors
New federal and state health care laws are also affecting the rise in tuition costs. Legislations requiring full-time college and university students to have health insurance will subsequently raise the cost of minimum coverage provided by the University. James Breeding, director of Risk Management and Insurance at Rutgers, stated, "Effective this coming year, we are going to have a hard waiver program that has a minimum limit of $100,000," he continues, "an increase of between $600 and $800 from the mandatory coverage provided currently with a limit of $5,000 at about $170 per student, which anyone without insurance must pay." Students without health insurance are compelled to buy into this particular program, but at competitive costs. Those with insurance can opt out of the hard waiver program, a change from the former policy regarding a mandatory fee on students' bills.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, Contributing factors
Recent outbreaks at Rutgersfest have also worried students about tuition costs. Rutgersfest is an annual block party and concert hosting tens of thousands of people to celebrate the end of the school year. The event typically garners major artists to perform and provides a plethora of games for students to play. Students pay almost $1,200 in campus and student fees each year, of which a portion of the fees go to Rutgersfest. Free and open to the public, the event had between 40,000 and 50,000 attendees this year, including high school and college students from other schools. However, four confirmed shootings at the event proves Rutgersfest too dangerous and will permanently close, says University President Richard L. McCormick. Based on these events, one student urged a limitation on student-run programming, suggesting that their student fees are being wasted.


2011 Rutgers tuition protests, Protests
On April 13, 2011, hundreds of Rutgers students and demonstrators marched from Voorhees Mall to Old Queens on the New Brunswick campus protesting tuition hikes and diminishing financial aid to higher education. The President commended the students on their campaign; however, he could not promise them a tuition freeze. The New Jersey United Students' (NJUS) "Walk in Action" protest brought tuition increases to the forefront of University issues.