RWC 2011 Hosted by New Zealand

 

 

 

At a meeting of the International Rugby Board (IRB) held in Dublin on 17 November 2005, New Zealand was selected as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa. There were two rounds of voting by the IRB Council to decide the host nation, with South Africa eliminated in the first round.

The 2011 Rugby World Cup final will be played on the weekend of the 22-23 October, 2011. The match will be held at Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand. This will ensure that the tournament will finish on a long weekend, with Monday 24 October being a public holiday in New Zealand.

The head office of Rugby World Cup 2011 was officially opened in Wellington by Prime Minister Helen Clark. Sports Minister Trevor Mallard said it was "the biggest thing that's ever happened to New Zealand". He said the event would bring an estimated 60,000 overseas visitors to New Zealand and generate $400 million of extra economic activity. About 3.4 billion viewers would watch the games on television.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) announced that the Rugby World Cup 2011 tournament in New Zealand will comprise 20 teams. This mirrors the number of teams that played in the last three tournaments. The decision was taken at a Special Meeting of Council following a recommendation to the Council from the Rugby World Cup Limited Board.

Dr Syd Millar, IRB and RWC Limited Chairman said, “Prior to RWC 2007 the IRB stated that it would review the number of participating teams for future Rugby World Cups. The reason for this review was to ensure that the tournament remains competitive and commercially attractive, that player welfare concerns are addressed and it continues to be the major promotional and financial vehicle for the continued expansion of the Game.”

“The IRB is committed to developing the Game and achieving specific goals within the strategic plan which include increasing the number and competitiveness of Unions at the top level and maximising the profile, profitability and value of Rugby World Cup.”

“The developing nations at Rugby World Cup 2007 have produced significantly enhanced performances since RWC 2003. This is a direct result of the global £30 million IRB strategic investment programme that was established in 2005.”

“Based on this plus the likelihood that surplus revenue from Rugby World Cup 2007 will provide further funds for future investment in developing nations, the Council had no hesitation in approving the recommendation from the RWCL Board that 20 teams participate at the 2011 tournament.”

“The successful New Zealand tender bid for RWC 2011 was based on 20 teams. At the Council meeting the motion maintaining the existing 20 team format was proposed by New Zealand Council member Graham Mourie. The IRB is very confident that the tournament will be a huge success,” added Dr Millar.

The NZ Government has also announced that the school holidays following the third term in 2011 will be delayed by two weeks for all students in NZ to coincide with the final two weeks of RWC 2011.

The Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool Allocation Draw took place inside a very unique venue, Tourism New Zealand’s ‘Giant Rugby Ball’ facility in the heart of London on December 1st, 2008. Members of the Maori community were on hand to welcome Bernard Lapasset, Chairman, Rugby World Cup Limited, and Jock Hobbs, Chairman, Rugby New Zealand 2011, into "the Ball" for the Draw.

For the first time the IRB World Rankings as of 30 November 2008 were used to seed the 12 qualified teams for RWC 2011. As in 2007, there will be four pools of five teams in RWC 2011. The top three positions, or bands, in each pool will be filled by the 12 pre-qualified teams from the last RWC. The 12 pre-qualified teams are: Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga and Wales.

From these 12 teams, the top four in the IRB World Rankings on 1 December 2008 were allocated to band one - or the top line in each pool - and drawn randomly into the pools. The next four teams were allocated into band two with the remaining four teams allocated into band three.

Banding of 12 automatic qualified teams:
Band 1: Top four ranked qualified teams (1 to 4 in IRB World Rankings)
Band 2: Next four ranked qualified teams (5 to 8 in IRB World Rankings)
Band 3: Bottom four ranked qualified teams (according to World Rankings)

This ensured that teams ranked in the top four of the IRB World Rankings on 1 December 2008 were not drawn in the same RWC 2011 pool.

The remaining eight available qualifying places still available for the tournament - Americas 1, Americas 2, Asia 1, Africa 1, Europe 1, Europe 2, Oceania 1 and Final Playoff Place - were divided between the four pools.

2011 Rugby World Cup draw:

Pool A			Pool B			Pool C			Pool D
	New Zealand			Argentina			Australia			South Africa
	France			England			Ireland			Wales
	Tonga			Scotland			Italy			Fiji
	Canada			Georgia			Russia			Manu Samoa
	Japan			Romania			USA			Namibia

Venues

While a range of venues will be used for RWC 2011, RNZ 2011 has currently only confirmed the venues for  the quarter-finals, semi-finals, Bronze Final and Final. RNZ 2011 is working with Regions across New Zealand to confirm the other match venues for the 40 pool matches. These will be confirmed in March or April 2009.

The RWC 2011 Final, Bronze Final and semi-finals will be played at a redeveloped Eden Park in Auckland.  Modern new stands will be the most apparent aspect, less obvious will be the pedestrian flow to and from the stadium. 

The key features are:

• A new three-tier South Stand with 52 corporate boxes;
• A new, unroofed two-tier East Stand (replacing the eastern terraces);
• Extension of the ASB Stand with a 200 seat lower bowl (replacing the Panasonic Stand);
• Internalisation of pedestrian movement, within the Eden Park site.  Public concourses in the east and west connecting all stands with transport centre and providing access to Kingsland railway station via Walters Road;
• A transport hub in the south west of the Park with bus parks for drop off and pick up;
• Increased landscaping around the Park perimeter;
• 10,000 high quality demountable seats above the East and West stands to bring capacity up to 60,000 for RWC 2011.
  

The four RWC 2011 quarter-finals will be hosted in Christchurch and Wellington with two to be held at Stadium Christchurch and two at the Wellington Regional Stadium.

The demolition of Eden Park's south and southwest stands is scheduled to begin August 2009.

Artists impression of redeveloped Eden Park - venue of the 2011 World Cup Final

Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) has announced that Gilbert has been awarded the contract to supply balls to Rugby World Cup 2011 and Rugby World Cup 2015.

A world leader in match ball innovation and development in international Rugby for more than a century, the UK-based firm will supply the match, training and replica balls for Rugby's global showcase event.

"Gilbert is a brand that is synonymous with Rugby World Cup, having supplied balls for the tournament since 1995, and RWCL is delighted to be extending the relationship with a partner that has proven to be both a strong supporter of the tournament and the world leader in Rugby ball performance," said RWCL Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

Results

Download the match schedule

Date	Time (NZ)	Pool			Match Details			Locations	Stadium
Fri Sept 9	20.30	A		41	New Zealand v Tonga	10		Auckland	Eden Park
Sat Sept 10	13.00	B		34	Scotland v Romania	24		Invercargill	Rugby Park Stadium
Sat Sept 10	15.30	D		49	Fiji v Namibia	25		Rotorua	Rotorua International Stadium
Sat Sept 10	18.00	A		47	France v Japan	21		Auckland	North Harbour Stadium
Sat Sept 10	20.30	B		9	Argentina v England	13		Dunedin	Otago Stadium
Sun Sept 11	15.30	C		32	Australia v Italy	6		Auckland	North Harbour Stadium
Sun Sept 11	18.00	C		22	Ireland v USA	10		New Plymouth	Stadium Taranaki
Sun Sept 11	20.30	D		17	South Africa v Wales	16		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Wed Sept 14	14.30	D		49	Samoa v Namibia	12		Rotorua	Rotorua International Stadium
Wed Sept 14	17.00	A		20	Tonga v Canada	25		Whangarei	Northland Events Centre
Wed Sept 14	19.30	B		15	Scotland v Georgia	6		Invercargill	Rugby Park Stadium
Thurs Sept 15	19.30	C		6	Russia v USA	13		New Plymouth	Stadium Taranaki
Fri Sept 16	20.00	A		83	New Zealand v Japan	7		Hamilton	Waikato Stadium
Sat Sept 17	15.30	B		43	Argentina v Romania	8		Invercargill	Rugby Park Stadium
Sat Sept 17	18.00	D		49	South Africa v Fiji	3		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Sat Sept 17	20.30	C		6	Australia v Ireland	15		Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Sept 18	15.30	D		17	Wales v Samoa	10		Hamilton	Waikato Stadium
Sun Sept 18	18.00	B		41	England v Georgia	10		Dunedin	Otago Stadium
Sun Sept 18	20.30	A		46	France v Canada	19		Napier	McLean Park
Tues Sept 20	19.30	C		53	Italy v Russia	17		Nelson	Trafalgar Park
Wed Sept 21	19.30	A		31	Tonga v Japan	18		Whangarei	Northland Events Centre
Thurs Sept 22	20.00	D		87	South Africa v Namibia	0		Auckland	North Harbour Stadium
Fri Sept 23	20.30	C		67	Australia v USA	5		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Sat Sept 24	18.00	B		67	England v Romania	3		Dunedin	Otago Stadium
Sat Sept 24	20.30	A		37	New Zealand v France	17		Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Sept 25	15.30	D		7	Fiji v Samoa	27		Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Sept 25	18.00	C		62	Ireland v Russia	12		Rotorua	Rotorua International Stadium
Sun Sept 25	20.30	B		13	Argentina v Scotland	12		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Mon Sept 26	19.30	D		81	Wales v Namibia	7		New Plymouth	Stadium Taranaki
Tues Sept 27	17.00	A		23	Canada v Japan	23		Napier	McLean Park
Tues Sept 27	19.30	C		27	Italy v USA	10		Nelson	Trafalgar Park
Wed Sept 28	19.30	B		25	Georgia v Romania	9		Palmerston North	Arena Manawatu
Fri Sept 30	20.30	D		13	South Africa v Samoa	5		Auckland	North Harbour Stadium
Sat Oct 1	15.30	C		68	Australia v Russia	22		Nelson	Trafalgar Park
Sat Oct 1	18.00	A		14	France v Tonga	19		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Sat Oct 1	20.30	B		16	England v Scotland	12		Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Oct 2	13.00	B		25	Argentina v Georgia	7		Palmerston North	Arena Manawatu
Sun Oct 2	15.30	A		79	New Zealand v Canada	15		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Sun Oct 2	18.00	D		66	Wales v Fiji	0		Hamilton	Waikato Stadium
Sun Oct 2	20.30	C		36	Ireland v Italy	6		Dunedin	Otago Stadium
Sat Oct 8	18.00	QF1		10	Ireland v Wales	22		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Sat Oct 8	20.30	QF2		12	England v France	19		Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Oct 9	18.00	QF3		09	South Africa v Australia	11		Wellington	Wellington Regional Stadium
Sun Oct 9	20.30	QF4		33	New Zealand v Argentina	10		Auckland	Eden Park
Sat Oct 15	21.00	SF1		08	Wales v France	09		Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Oct 16	21.00	SF2		06	Australia v New Zealand	20		Auckland	Eden Park
Fri Oct 21	20.30	Bronze		18	Wales v Australia	21		Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Oct 23	21.00	Final		07	France v New Zealand	08		Auckland	Eden Park

Read the official IRB Statistical Review and Match Analysis

Rugbyworldcup.com achieved record digital traffic during Rugby World Cup 2011 attracting:
- 17 million unique users to the website
- 3.5 million downloads of the official Tournament App
- 1.4 million Facebook page ‘likes’
- 4.5 million views of match action via the official YouTube page.

Final

Match Officials

• Referee: Craig Joubert (RSA)
• Touch Judge: Alain Rolland (IRE)
• Touch Judge: Nigel Owens (WAL)
• TV match official: Giulio De Santis (ITA)

Match Report

France fly half Morgan Parra had to leave the field after 11 minutes looking groggy and slightly bloodied following a double impact from Ma'a Nonu and McCaw, although he returned six minutes later. During his absence the All Blacks opened the scoring when a well-worked lineout move deep in the France 22 allowed Woodcock to charge though a gap in the France defence and sprint 10m to touch down for his first ever RWC try.

Scrum half Weepu, who had been New Zealand's principal kicker following the injury to Dan Carter in the pool stages, missed his second shot of the night with the conversion attempt.

Parra was again in the wars and, to his very visible disappointment, was replaced for good by Trinh-Duc.

When the All Blacks won another penalty after 25 minutes, more points went begging when Weepu again skewed his kick wide.

But there was nothing wrong with their running game and only resolute French defence kept them from breaching the line.

France centre Aurélien Rougerie had to dive on the ball in-goal after a deft chip through by All Blacks wing Richard Kahui on the half-hour.

But the New Zealand injury woes continued when third-choice fly half Cruden suffered a nasty knee injury and was replaced by Donald, making his RWC debut.

On 36 minutes a long-range Trinh-Duc drop-goal attempt sailed just to the right of the uprights and shortly afterwards only a Weepu tap tackle could stop his run to the line when he split the All Blacks defence.

With both teams playing their third RWC Final, it was clear it was going to be a passionate encounter from the moment the French advanced on the All Blacks' Haka. The collisions were shuddering and both teams lost their fly halves before the interval, when only a single unconverted try by prop Woodcock separated the sides.

France got their first penalty attempt on goal two minutes into the second half, when McCaw was caught handling in the ruck. But scrum half Dimitri Yachvili’s attempt was just wide. New Zealand won a penalty in front of the posts two minutes later. Donald took over the kicking duties and nailed his attempt to put his team 8-0 ahead. But Les Bleus struck back almost immediately. A break by replacement fly half François Trinh-Duc opened up the All Blacks defence and France made several attempts on the line before captain Dusautoir raced in to touch down beside the posts. Trinh-Duc converted to make it 8-7 and when Donald put the restart out on the full, the All Blacks’ anxiety was palpable.

Coach Graham Henry went to his bench and the out-of-form Piri Weepu was replaced by Andy Ellis, hooker Keven Mealamu gave way to Andrew Hore and Ali Williams took Sam Whitelock’s place in the second row.

Les Bleus sensed another famous upset and took every opportunity to apply pressure. With 15 minutes remaining, the All Blacks were behind on territory and possession when Trinh-Duc had a chance to put the French in front on the scoreboard. But his 48m penalty attempt was also wide of the mark. With seven minutes left France pressed again but New Zealand managed to withstand the assault and when Craig Joubert blew the final whistle on the lowest-scoring Final, the All Blacks and their fans were understandably overjoyed.

Captain Richie McCaw paid tribute to his All Blacks after they survived the most nerve-racking of scares to end 24 years of pain and clinch their second Rugby World Cup title with an 8-7 win over France.

 

In the end it was a second-half penalty by fourth-choice fly half Stephen Donald that proved decisive. McCaw, playing his 103rd Test, saluted the replacements who had been drafted into his injury-hit squad.

In 1999 and 2007 Les Bleus had wrecked New Zealand’s dreams of glory with dramatic come-from-behind victories. And they looked as if they might do so again as they battled to within a single point of McCaw's team with half an hour of Sunday’s match remaining. But in this re-enactment of the inaugural RWC 1987 Final, the French once again came off second best as a Tony Woodcock try and Donald's penalty gave New Zealand the edge over a converted try by Thierry Dusautoir.

France were unrecognisable from the team that had struggled in the earlier rounds and the All Blacks had to dig deeper than they would ever have imagined to get their hands on the Webb Ellis Cup in front of a delirious home crowd.

Referees

Name	Union
Wayne Barnes	(RFU)
George Clancy	(IRFU)
Craig Joubert	(SARU)
Jonathan Kaplan	(SARU)
Bryce Lawrence	(NZRU)
Nigel Owens	(WRU)
Dave Pearsen	(RFU)
Romain Poite	(FFR)
Alain Rolland	(IRFU)
Steve Walsh	(ARU)

George Clancy is joined in the Panel by countryman and Rugby World Cup 2007 Final Referee Alain Rolland, England’s Dave Pearson and Wayne Barnes, France’s Romain Poite, New Zealand’s Bryce Lawrence, South Africa’s Craig Joubert and Jonathan Kaplan, Nigel Owens of Wales and Australia’s Steve Walsh.

Kaplan and Walsh were officiating at their fourth Rugby World Cup (a tournament record).

George Clancy, Dave Pearson, Romain Poite, Bryce Lawrence and Craig Joubert were included within a Rugby World Cup Referee Panel for the first time.

Assistant Referees & TMOs

In addition to the Panel of 10 Rugby World Cup Referees, seven specialist Assistant Referees were selected to assist during the tournament’s pool stages. Chris Pollock and Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Jerome Garces (France), Stuart Terheege (England), Tim Hayes (Wales), Simon McDowell (Ireland) and Carlo Damasco (Italy) comprise the Panel. Pollock and Garces are the reserve Referees for the Tournament.

Assistant Referees
Garces, Jerome* (FFR)
Pollock, Chris* (NZRU)
McDowell, Simon (IRFU)
Munro, Vinny (NZRU)
Terheege, Stuart (RFU)
Hayes, Tim (WRU)
Damasco, Carlo (FIR)

Four highly experienced Television Match Officials complete the Panel. Giulio De Santis (Italy), Graham Hughes (England), Matt Goddard (Australia) and Shaun Veldsman (South Africa) will preside over every match.

TMOs
Hughes, Graham (RFU)
Veldsman, Shaun (SARU)
De Santis, Giulio (FIR)
Goddard, Matt (ARU)

* Denotes Reserve Referees

A panel of 10 Referees and two specialist Television Match Officials (TMO) were selected from the panel of 21 officials for the showcase matches which kicked-off with the quarter-finals in Auckland and Wellington. The appointments were made by the IRB's Match Official Selection Committee in Auckland following a thorough review of performances across the 40 Pool phase matches.
Wayne Barnes (England), George Clancy (Ireland), Craig Joubert (South Africa), Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Nigel Owens (Wales), Dave Pearson (England), Romain Poite (France), Alain Rolland (Ireland) and Steve Walsh (Australia) will perform Referee and Assistant Referee duties. Giulio De Santis (Italy) and Shaun Veldsman (South Africa) have been selected as the two specialist TMOs.

IRB Referee Manager Paddy O’Brien said: “Our focus has been firmly on consistency, penalising the clear and obvious and tackling the ‘big five’ areas. The extensive performance review of all 40 matches included coach, match official and performance reviewer feedback and we are very happy with the way that the group has worked together to collectively achieve the goals set.”
“Accuracy in decision making is our top priority. We will continue to work as a unit to achieve the high standards that have collectively been set and maintain a zero-tolerance attitude towards infringements across the key areas of the Game. In that regard, I would also like to thank the coaches for their buy-in to the process during this Tournament.”
IRB Match Official Selection Committee Chairman David Pickering added: “This was a very tough selection process. The overall standard in performance has been exceptional and the team has achieved all that has been asked of them, and while it is inevitable that there are those who are unlucky to miss out on selection, I would like to thank all the Referees, Assistant Referees and Television Match Officials for their hard work, commitment and professionalism. They can be proud of playing their full part in contributing to what has been an exceptional Rugby World Cup.”
Appointments for the Rugby World Cup 2011 semi-finals will be announced on Monday, October 10.

IRB Match Official Selection Committee: David Pickering, Chairman (Wales), Tappe Henning (South Africa), Kevin Bowring (England), Bob Francis (New Zealand), Stephen Hilditch (Ireland) and Michel Lamoulie (France). The IRB Referee Manager is Paddy O'Brien.
Assessment: All international match official performances are reviewed. This comprehensive process includes self assessment, with referees giving structured feedback on their individual performances, feedback from coaches, physical performance monitoring using GPS technology and review by the IRB Match official Selection Committee.
Physical Performance Review: The IRB Panel is subjected to year-round monitoring and assessment with physical performance an important criteria in the selection process to ensure the highest possible standards. After each match the data is downloaded into a web based performance analysis system (Performance Profiler). This data is then made available to the referees and their conditioning coaches and from this training programmes can be adjusted to optimise physical performance and promote consistency across the panel.

Read the Rugby World Cup 2011 Referee Panel Test Records

Read officials allocation for pool stages