2003 Rugby World Cup 2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup Limited. The pre-event favourites were England, regarded by many at the time as the best team in the world. New Zealand, France, South Africa and defending champions Australia were also expected to make strong showings, with New Zealand being second favourites after victory in the southern-hemisphere
1995 Rugby World Cup – European qualification 1995 Rugby World Cup – European qualification For the 1995 Rugby World Cup qualifiers, the European Federation was allocated three places in the final tournament. This was in addition to the four places granted to England, France, Ireland and Scotland based on their results from 1991. Twenty teams played in the European qualifiers that were held over three stages in 1993 and 1994. , and were the top three sides and secured their places as Europe 1, Europe 2 and Europe 3, respectively, for RWC 95. "Switzerland qualify for Round 1." Luxembourg withdrew from the group. "Israel qualify for Round