National team appearances in the Rugby World Cup

This article presents the national team appearances in the Rugby World Cup. The article tracks the appearances, results, and debuts for all national teams that have participated in at least one Rugby World Cup.

Number of appearances

Team	Apps	Record streak	Active streak	Debut	Most recent	Best result
New Zealand	8	8	8	1987	2015	Champions (1987, 2011, 2015)
Australia	8	8	8	1987	2015	Champions (1991, 1999)
South Africa	6	6	6	1995	2015	Champions (1995, 2007)
England	8	8	8	1987	2015	Champions (2003)
France	8	8	8	1987	2015	Runners-up (1987, 1999, 2011)
Wales	8	8	8	1987	2015	Third place (1987)
Argentina	8	8	8	1987	2015	Third place (2007)
Scotland	8	8	8	1987	2015	Fourth place (1991)
Ireland	8	8	8	1987	2015	Quarterfinals (1987, 1991, 1995, 2003, 2011, 2015)
Fiji	7	5	5	1987	2015	Quarterfinals (1987, 2007)
Samoa	7	7	7	1991	2015	Quarterfinals (1991, 1995)
Canada	8	8	8	1987	2015	Quarterfinals (1991)
Japan	8	8	8	1987	2015	Rd 1: 3 wins (2015)
Italy	8	8	8	1987	2015	Rd 1: 2 wins (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
Tonga	7	6	6	1987	2015	Rd 1: 2 wins (2007, 2011)
Georgia	4	4	4	2003	2015	Rd 1: 2 wins (2015)
Romania	8	8	8	1987	2015	Rd 1: 1 win (1987, 1991, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015)
United States	7	5	5	1987	2015	Rd 1: 1 win (1987, 2003, 2011)
Uruguay	3	2	1	1999	2015	Rd 1: 1 win (1999, 2003)
Namibia	5	5	5	1999	2015	Rd 1: 0 wins
Zimbabwe	2	2	0	1987	1991	Rd 1: 0 wins
Ivory Coast	1	1	0	1995	1995	Rd 1: 0 wins
Spain	1	1	0	1999	1999	Rd 1: 0 wins
Portugal	1	1	0	2007	2007	Rd 1: 0 wins
Russia	1	1	0	2011	2011	Rd 1: 0 wins

Results by tournament

Map of countries' best results (click to enlarge)

Legend

• 1st — Champions
• 2nd — Runners-up
• 3rd — Third place
• 4th — Fourth place
• QF — Quarterfinals (knockout round of 8)
• R2 — Round 2 (1999: quarterfinal playoffs)
• R1 — Round 1 (pool stage)
• L — Last place
•  ••  — Invited or qualified but declined or withdrew
•  •  — Did not qualify
•     — Not invited (1987) / Did not enter / Withdrew
•    — Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Team	1987 (16)	1991 (16)	1995 (16)	1999 (20)	2003 (20)	2007 (20)	2011 (20)	2015 (20)
Argentina	R1 13th	R1 14th	R1 13th	QF 8th	R1 9th	3rd	QF 8th	4th
Australia	4th	1st	QF 5th	1st	2nd	QF 6th	3rd	2nd
Canada	R1 9th	QF 8th	R1 10th	R1 12th	R1 14th	R1 17th	R1 13th	R1 17th
England	QF 5th	2nd	4th	QF 5th	1st	2nd	QF 6th	R1 10th
Fiji	QF 8th	R1 13th	•	R2 10th	R1 10th	QF 7th	R1 14th	R1 15th
France	2nd	QF 7th	3rd	2nd	4th	4th	2nd	QF 6th
Georgia	••(2)		•	•	R1 19th	R1 13th	R1 15th	R1 12th
Ireland	QF 7th	QF 6th	QF 8th	R2 9th	QF 6th	R1 11th	QF 7th	QF 5th
Italy	R1 12th	R1 10th	R1 11th	R1 20th	R1 12th	R1 12th	R1 11th	R1 11th
Ivory Coast(1)		•	R1 15th	•	•	•	•	•
Japan	R1 15th	R1 9th	R1 16th	R1 17th	R1 17th	R1 16th	R1 17th	R1 9th
Namibia			•	R1 19th	R1 20th	R1 20th	R1 20th	R1 18th
New Zealand	1st	3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	QF 5th	1st	1st
Portugal		•	•	•	•	R1 19th	•	•
Romania	R1 11th	R1 12th	R1 14th	R1 14th	R1 15th	R1 15th	R1 19th	R1 16th
Russia	••(2)		•	•	•	•	R1 18th	•
Samoa(3)		QF 7th	QF 7th	R2 11th	R1 11th	R1 14th	R1 10th	R1 13th
Scotland	QF 6th	4th	QF 6th	QF 6th	QF 8th	QF 8th	R1 9th	QF 7th
South Africa(4)			1st	3rd	QF 5th	1st	QF 5th	3rd
Spain		•	•	R1 18th	•	•	•	•
Tonga	R1 14th	•	R1 12th	R1 15th	R1 18th	R1 10th	R1 12th	R1 14th
United States	R1 10th	R1 15th	•	R1 16th	R1 13th	R1 18th	R1 16th	R1 19th
Uruguay			•	R1 13th	R1 16th	•	•	R1 20th
Wales	3rd	R1 11th	R1 9th	QF 7th	QF 7th	R1 9th	4th	QF 8th
Zimbabwe	R1 16th	R1 16th	•	•	•	•	•	•

• ¹ The team representing Côte d'Ivoire (also known as Ivory Coast) is recognised as Ivory Coast by the International Rugby Board.
• ² Georgia and Russia were part of the Soviet Union in 1987, whose national team declined an invitation to the inaugural World Cup on political grounds.
• ³ Samoa was known as Western Samoa until 1997.
• ⁴ South Africa did not compete in 1987 and 1991 while subject to an international sporting boycott in opposition to the country's apartheid regime.

Debut of national teams

25 nations have thus far qualified for the Rugby World Cup. From 1987 until 2011, each edition featured at least one new debuting country. The 2015 tournament was the first edition with no country making its debut.

Year	Nation(s)	Total
1987	Argentina Australia Canada England Fiji France Ireland Italy Japan New Zealand Romania Scotland Tonga United States Wales Zimbabwe	16
1991	Samoa	1
1995	Ivory Coast South Africa	2
1999	Namibia Spain Uruguay	3
2003	Georgia	1
2007	Portugal	1
2011	Russia	1
2015	(none)	0

Result of host nations

The best result by hosts is champions, achieved by New Zealand in 1987 and 2011, and by South Africa in 1995. The worst result was by Wales in 1991 with only one win in pool play, although they did not host the final. The worst result by a country who hosted the final is held by England, being eliminated in the group stage in 2015.

Year	Host nation	Finish
1987	New Zealand	Champions
	Australia	Fourth Place
1991	England	Runners-up
	Scotland	Fourth Place
	France	Quarter Final
	Ireland	Quarter Final
	Wales	Group Stage
1995	South Africa	Champions
1999	Wales	Quarter Final
2003	Australia	Runners-up
2007	France	Fourth Place
2011	New Zealand	Champions
2015	England	Group Stage
2019	Japan

Results of defending champions

New Zealand is the only nation to successfully defend the World Cup as defending champions in 2015. Australia and England achieved runner up in 2003 and 2007, respectively. The worst results were by Australia in 1995 and South Africa in 2011, both exiting in the quarter-finals.

Year	Defending champions	Finish
1991	New Zealand	Third Place
1995	Australia	Quarter Final
1999	South Africa	Third Place
2003	Australia	Runners-up
2007	England	Runners-up
2011	South Africa	Quarter Final
2015	New Zealand	Champions
2019	New Zealand

See also

• Rugby World Cup qualification

External links

• Rugbyworldcup.com
• IRB.com