The 2003 Rugby World Cup was staged in Australia, the land of the defending champions; the first time the Rugby World Cup had been defended on home soil. In a modification from the tournament in 1999, the competition consisted of four pools of five competing nations. With every team playing four matches each, the first and second placed in the pool would qualify for the quarter-final stages. In another alteration from tournaments passed, a bonus point system was introduced so that even losing teams had the possibility to notch up a score. One bonus point would be awarded to a team scoring four or greater tries and similarly, one bonus point would be awarded to a team losing by seven points or less.
Of the twenty teams that entered the 2003 World Cup, eight had automatically qualified from the previous competition. Those that had reached the quarter-finals in 1999 progressed via the direct route to the tournament: England, Wales, France, Scotland, Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia - who would have qualified by virtue as host nation had they not been the champions in the previous tournament. A record 81 countries battled it out for the twelve remaining places in the 2003 competition, with Canada, the USA, Uruguay, Japan, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Namibia, Ireland, Italy, Romania and Georgia (for the first time) successfully making up the numbers.
Hosts and defending champions Australia kicked off the competition at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney against Argentina.
The 2003 RWC belonged to England. They had had good success against Southern hemisphere teams throughout the previous couple of years and so confidence was high. They beat South Africa in the group stages, Wales in the quarterfinals and France in the Semi-finals to meet Australia in the final.
The highlight of the final took place in the final moments of the game. Jonny Wilkinson wrote himself into the history books with a successful drop goal and England became the first Northern hemisphere team to win the RWC.
The following table outlines each participating RWC 2003 nations' population and current number of registered players.
England South Africa France Australia Japan New Zealand Fiji Wales Argentina Ireland Italy USA Canada Tonga Samoa Scotland Namibia Romania Uruguay Georgia
RUGBY WORLD CUP RESULTS 2003 POOL A POOL B POOL C POOL D Australia 24 - 8 Argentina France 61 - 18 Fiji South Africa 72 - 6 Uruguay New Zealand 70 - 7 Italy Ireland 45 - 17 Romania Scotland 32 - 11 Japan England 84 -6 Georgia Wales 41 - 10 Canada Argentina 67 - 14 Namibia Fiji 19 - 18 USA Samoa 60 - 13 Uruguay Italy 36 - 12 Tonga Australia 90 - 8 Romania France 51 - 29 Japan South Africa 6 - 25 England New Zealand 68 - 6 Canada Ireland 64 - 7 Namibia Scotland 39 - 15 USA Georgia 9 - 46 Samoa Wales 27 - 20 W Tonga Argentina 50 - 3 Romania Fiji 41 - 13 Japan South Africa 46 - 19 Georgia Italy 19 - 14 Canada Australia 142 - 0 Namibia France 51 - 9 Scotland England 35 -22 Samoa New Zealand 91 - 7 Tonga Argentina 15 - 16 Ireland Japan 26 - 39 USA Georgia 12 - 24 Uruguay Italy 15 - 27 Wales Namibia 7 - 37 Romania France 41 - 14 USA South Africa 60 - 10 Samoa Canada 24 - 7 Tonga Australia 17 - 16 Ireland Scotland 22 - 20 Fiji England 111 -13 Uruguay New Zealand 53 - 37 Wales RWC 2003 POOLS:
PL: Played W: Won D: Drawn L: Lost PF: Points for PA: Points against PD: Points difference TP: Total points, including bonus points
POOL A P W D L F A PTS Australia 4 4 0 0 Ireland 4 3 0 1 Argentina 4 2 0 2 Romania 4 1 0 3 Namibia 4 0 0 4
POOL B P W D L F A PTS France 4 4 0 0 Scotland 4 3 0 1 Fuji 4 2 0 2 USA 4 1 0 3 Japan 4 0 0 4
POOL C P W D L F A PTS England South Africa Samoa Uruguay Georgia
POOL D P W D L F A PTS New Zealand Wales Italy Canada Tonga
QUARTER-FINALS
SEMI-FINALS
3rd PLACE PLAY-OFF
FINAL New Zealand 29-9 South Africa New Zealand
10 - 22
AustraliaNovember 20th
New Zealand
40 -13
France
November 22nd
Australia
17-
20
England
Australia 33-16 Scotland France 43-21 Ireland France
7- 24
EnglandEngland 28-17 Wales Read the Official IRB Statistical Review and Match Analysis
Final:
England: 20, Tries: Jason Robinson, Pens: Jonny Wilkinson 3, Jonny Wilkinson drop goal, bt. Austrailia: 17, Tries: Lote Tuqiri, Pens: Elton Flatley 3 Crowd: 82,957, Referee: Andre Watson (RSA)
Austrailia: 15 Mat Rogers, 14 Wendell Sailor, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Elton Flatley, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 George Smith, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Brendan Cannon, 1 Bill Young. Reserves: Jeremy Paul, Matt Dunning, David Giffin, Matt Cockbain, Chris Whitaker, Matt Giteau, Joe Roff.
England: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Jason Robinson, 13 Will Greenwood, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Matt Dawson, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 7 Neil Back, 6 Richard Hill, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Martin Johnson (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Trevor Woodman. Reserves: Dorian West, Jason Leonard, Martin Corry, Lewis Moody, Kyran Bracken, Mike Catt, Iain Balshaw.
Game write-up kindly provided by RUGBYeNEWS.com
Australia drew first blood after just six minutes with a try to Lote Tuqiri who flew high over Jason Robinson to snatch a Stephen Larkham cross-field kick and the Wallabies World Cup defence started on the right track. A series of penalties to Wilkinson took England out to a 9-5 advantage after 38 minutes, however it was a try to Robinson two minutes from half time which gapped the sides, England going to the break with a nine point lead. Flatley was first to strike in the second stanza bringing the margin back to within a converted try, and a second penalty in the half at 61 minutes brought the score to 14-11. Both sides played scrappy football over the final 20 minutes of the match however neither side could take any points away. In the final minute of play, Elton Flatley took an opportunity to send the game into extra time, tying the scores up with a penalty goal. In the first period of extra time England were first to strike with a penalty goal to Wilkinson who also missed a drop goal attempt in the final minute of the stanza. The two teams traded field position for the duration of the final period before another Flatley penalty tied the scores in the 99th minute. Mat Rogers failed to find a territorial gain from the restart giving England strong field position and Wilkinson used the opportunity three phases later to pilot over a drop goal with his fourth attempt for the match. With only seconds remaining Australia failed to get the ball back on restart and England put the ball into touch to win their first World Cup.
By the Clock
6th minute Lote Tuqiri try; Elton Flatley missed conversion AUS 5-0 12th minute Jonny Wilkinson penalty goal AUS 5-3 19th minute Blood Bin - Matt Giteau for Stephen Larkham 20th minute Jonny Wilkinson penalty goal ENG 6-5 23rd minute Jonny Wilkinson missed drop goal 28th minute Jonny Wilkinson penalty goal ENG 9-5 31st minute Elton Flatley missed penalty goal 31st minute Blood Bin - Stephen Larkham returns for Matt Giteau 38th minute Jason Robinson try; Jonny Wilkinson missed conversion ENG 14-5 HALF TIME England 14 Australia 5 48th minute Elton Flatley penalty goal ENG 14-8 49th minute Replacement - David Giffin for Nathan Sharpe 56th minute Blood Bin - Matt Giteau for Stephen Larkham 57th minute Replacement - Matt Cockbain for David Lyons 57th minute Replacement - Jeremy Paul for Brendan Cannon 61st minute Elton Flatley penalty goal ENG 14-11 64th minute Blood Bin - Stephen Larkham returns for Matt Giteau 71st minute Replacement - Joe Roff for Wendell Sailor 72nd minute Jonny Wilkinson missed drop goal 79th minute Replacement - Mike Catt for Mike Tindall 80th minute Elton Flatley penalty goal 14-all FULL TIME Australia 14 England 14 81st minute Replacement - Jason Leonard for Phil Vickery 82nd minute Jonny Wilkinson penalty goal ENG 17-14 86th minute Blood Bin - Matt Giteau for Stephen Larkham 86th minute Replacement - Iain Balshaw for Josh Lewsey 90th minute Jonny Wilkinson missed drop goal HALF TIME - EXTRA TIME England 17 Australia 14 93rd minute Replacement - Matt Dunning for Bill Young 93rd minute Blood Bin - Stephen Larkham returns for Matt Giteau 93rd minute Replacement - Lewis Moody for Richard Hill 99th minute Elton Flatley penalty goal 17-all 100th minute Jonny Wilkinson drop goal ENG 20-17 FULL TIME - EXTRA TIME England 20 d Australia 17
Key Statistics Australia England Possession 42% 58% Territory 46% 54% Tackles 161 139 Missed tackles 24 19 Rucks and mauls 74 101 Ruck and maul turnovers 3 2 Handling turnovers 15 13 Line Breaks 2 4 Lineouts won (against throw) 23 (5) 28 (9) Fly half pass/kick/run 38/15/9 42/12/12 Penalties conceded (in possession) 8 (3) 14 (4)
Courtesy BBC: England Captain Martin Johnson Referees
Andrew Cole, Australia
Pablo Deluca, Argentina
Stuart Dickinson, Australia
Paul Honiss, New Zealand
Joel Jutge, France
Jonathon Kaplan, South Africa
Peter Marshall, Australia
David McHugh, Ireland
Paddy O'Brien, New Zealand
Alain Rolland, Ireland
Tony Spreadbury, England
Steve Walsh, New Zealand
Andre Watson, South Africa
Chris White, England
Nigel Williams, Wales
Scott Young, AustraliaTouch judges - Television Match Officials (TMOs)
Donal Courtney, Ireland
Giulio de Santis, Italy
Kelvin Deaker, New Zealand
Joel Dumé, France
Mark Lawrence, South Africa
Alan Lewis, Ireland
Iain Ramage, Scotland
Nigel Whitehouse, WalesAssessors
Stuart Beissel, New Zealand
Colin High, England
Stephen Hilditch, Ireland
Dougie Kerr, Scotland
Michel Lamoulie, France
Frans Muller, South Africa
Ian Scotney, Australia
Robert Yeman, Wales
