Japan at the Rugby World Cup won three games out of four in pool play, the same as Scotland and South Africa, but unlike the other two, Japan did not get any bonus points, so the other two qualified for the quarter-finals. Japan's first victory was a 52–8 win over Zimbabwe at the 1991 tournament under coach Hiroaki Shukuzawa. Their worst defeat came at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, when they lost to New Zealand by 145–17, in a defeat blamed for setting the development of rugby union in Japan back by several years. Since then, in the 2003 World Cup, held in Australia, Japan coached
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