1995 Rugby World Cup as did South Africa, as hosts. The remaining seven of the 16 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers. The qualifying tournaments were broken up into regional associations: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Côte d'Ivoire qualified through Africa, Japan through Asia, Argentina through the Americas, Italy, Romania and Wales through Europe, Tonga through Oceania. The 1995 tournament was the first Rugby World Cup to be hosted by just one country, and thus, all the venues are within the one country. In total, nine stadiums were used for the World Cup, most being owned by local
Wales at the Rugby World Cup hemisphere and those in Europe. Wales hosted the tournament in 1999, with Cardiff's Millennium Stadium built to coincide with the event. However, it is common for Rugby World Cups to have matches played outside their official host country, and all four tournaments hosted in Europe have used Wales to some degree as a World Cup venue. After the 2015 event, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and its predecessor will have hosted a total 21 matches over a total of four world cups. This is the largest number of world cup games hosted by one venue. England was billed as the main host