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
2023 Rugby World Cup host cities were selected. This list was later reduced to 9 cities (excluding Paris, Montpellier and Lens) : The Rugby World Cup may expand from its current 20 teams for the 2023 tournament. A total of 12 teams will have gained automatic qualification to the tournament after finishing in the top three of their pool at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. while France automatically qualifies as host. The below table shows the qualified teams with their World Rankings as of first tournament date (8 September 2023): 2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup, to be hosted by France,