The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

, a quadrennial international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competition inaugurated in 1987. The

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

(IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, who defeated

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

8–7 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. The defending champions,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, were eliminated by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event (following New Zealand in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and South Africa in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

). It was the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 mat ...

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (known as the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992 for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth Cricket World Cup, the premier One Day International cricket tournament for men's national teams, organised by the International Cric ...

and the

2003 America's Cup The 31st America's Cup was contested between the holder, Team New Zealand, and the winner of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, Alinghi. Build Up The 2002–2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, held in the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland, New Zealand saw nine teams from ...

. Overseas visitors to New Zealand for the event totalled 133,000, more than the 95,000 that the organisers expected. However, there was a drop in non-event visitors, meaning the net increase in visitors over the previous year was less than 80,000. The games ran over six weeks, commencing on 9 September 2011 with the opening ceremony showcasing New Zealand's history and diverse cultures. The final was played at

Eden Park Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. The main stadium has a nominal capacity of 50,000, and is s ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

on 23 October 2011, a date chosen because it fell on a

long weekend A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or the preceding Friday. Many countries also have four-day weekends, in w ...

of New Zealand's

Labour Day Labour Day is an annual day of celebration of the labour movement and its labor rights, achievements. It has its origins in the trade union, labour union movement, specifically the Eight-hour day movement, eight-hour day movement, which advoca ...

holiday. After speculation that the number of participating teams would be reduced to 16, the IRB announced on 30 November 2007 that the 2011 tournament would again feature 20 teams. Twelve teams qualified as a result of finishing in the top three in each pool in the 2007 tournament. The remaining eight berths were determined by regional qualifying tournaments. Of the 20 countries that competed in the previous World Cup in 2007, there was only one change – Russia replaced Portugal.

Host selection

Three nations bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup – New Zealand, Japan, and South Africa. New Zealand had co-hosted the first Rugby World Cup with Australia in 1987, and had been set to co-host the 2003 World Cup with Australia before a disagreement over ground signage rights resulted in New Zealand being dropped and Australia became the sole host. The 2011 New Zealand bid contained plans to enlarge the size of

and other stadiums to help increase the commercial viability of the bid. Japan was bidding to become the first Asian nation to host the first Rugby World Cup. Japan had the necessary infrastructure already in place, by virtue of its co-hosting the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. South Africa had hosted the tournament in 1995. The 2011 South African bid, led by former national captain

Francois Pienaar Jacobus Francois Pienaar (born 2 January 1967) is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa (the Springboks) from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain. He is best known for ...

, had strong support from their national government. South Africa had also won the right to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The IRB Council meeting in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 17 November 2005 announced that New Zealand had been selected after IRB inspections of each applicant host nation during June and July 2005.

Preparations

Costs and benefits

The event was expected to cost about

NZ$ The New Zealand dollar (; currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zeal ...

310 million to run and to generate NZ$280 million in ticket sales. In

, the city where many of the most important games took place, the costs to the local ratepayers alone was estimated at $102 million. Ticket sales exceeding NZ$285 million, accommodation-related spending of another NZ$260 million, and NZ$236 million spent on food and drink was expected to provide a significant fiscal stimulus, of nearly 1.4% of the quarterly GDP.

Concerns

In the years between winning the bid and the staging of the event, New Zealand news media and social agencies cast aspersions on the nation's readiness and appropriate use of national funds for sports infrastructure, as has happened with most large, international, quadrennial, multi-location sporting events of recent decades such as the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

and the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

. Concerns were raised about the process of upgrading Eden Park to expand the capacity to the 60,000 required by the IRB. In late 2008 Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully said the remaining consent process might need to be overridden by legislation for the work to be completed on time. A July 2009 report by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, released under the Official Information Act, warned of lack of readiness and complacency, despite the fact that "the levels of patron movement and operational standard eeded for the RWCare in reality significantly above what is currently delivered." The report was dismissed by Michael Barnett, the

Auckland Chamber of Commerce The Auckland Business Chamber (known as the Auckland Chamber of Commerce until 2018), is a New Zealand business network representing the interests of businesses in the Auckland region. It is a non-governmental organisation. History The Chamber ...

CEO and planning co-coordinator for RWC events in Auckland, who characterised it as a case of "a Wellington media organisation us ngan outdated report". The nation's largest hospitality workers' union, Unite, which represents 25% of hotel, restaurant and casino workers in New Zealand, demanded that workers share in windfall profits and said there was the possibility of a strike during the tournament. The construction of Dunedin's

Forsyth Barr Stadium Forsyth Barr Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. At various stages of development it was also known as Dunedin Stadium or Awatea Street Stadium, or its non-commercial official name during the 2011 Rugby World Cup and 2 ...

, known during the tournament as Otago Stadium, was a source of concern as the project was operating in a tight time frame. An April 2010 progress report stated that the project remained on target for completion prior to the Rugby World Cup, although there was a medium level of risk with some significant and potentially damaging concerns. If the project had not been completed on time, organisers would have reverted to

Carisbrook Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, ...

as the backup option. Forsyth Barr Stadium was officially opened on 6 August 2011. Damage caused by the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

forced the relocation of a number of cup matches, including the quarter-finals.

Warm-up matches

The

2011 Tri Nations Series The 2011 Tri Nations Series was the sixteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks. It was also t ...

was shortened to include only six games instead of the usual nine. It served as the primary preparation for the tournament for

and

. In the northern hemisphere, a series of friendlies played in August 2011 replaced the annual tours to the southern hemisphere. North American entrants

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

beat

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

in two warm-up friendlies in August 2011.

Qualifying

Twenty teams competed in the 2011 World Cup. Twelve teams qualified by finishing in the top three of their pool in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

. Twelve of the nations at this tournament had competed in every previous Rugby World Cup – Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, and Wales. All the other sides also had previous World Cup experience, except for Russia who appeared in a Rugby World Cup for the first time.

Qualified teams

The following 20 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the final tournament. ; ARFU (1) * (13) ;

CAR A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

(2) * (20) * (3) ; CONSUR (1) * (9) ; FIRA–AER (9) * (5) * (4) * (8) * (11) * (17) * (7) * (16) * (19) * (6) ; FORU (5) * (2) * (15) * (1) * (10) * (12) ; NACRA (2) * (14) * (18)

Venues

The 13 venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup were confirmed on 12 March 2009. A number of the venues were redeveloped to increase capacity for the event. The Government considered passing a law bypassing the consent process to allow all the stadiums' redevelopment to be completed in time. Due to damage to Stadium Christchurch and many other facilities in Christchurch caused by the earthquake on 22 February 2011, it was announced on 16 March that the matches to be played in the city would be relocated. The two quarter-finals scheduled would be moved to Auckland, while the five pool matches moved to other centres. On 10 November 2006, the

New Zealand Government The New Zealand Government () is the central government through which political authority is exercised in New Zealand. As in most other parliamentary democracies, the term "Government" refers chiefly to the executive branch, and more specifica ...

announced plans for Stadium New Zealand in Auckland. The proposal was to build the new stadium seating 70,000 on the waterfront. After much public outcry, and lack of support from the

Auckland Regional Council The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The ARC ...

, the proposal was dropped in favour of the redevelopment of

. The redevelopment of Eden Park's Southern and South Western stands was completed during 2010. Dunedin's new stadium,

(known as Otago Stadium during the tournament), was completed in August 2011 and was used instead of Carisbrook. *with temporary seating

Draw

Seeding The term seeding and related terms such as seeded are used in several different contexts: *Sowing, planting seeds in a place or on an object *Cloud seeding, manipulating cloud formations *Seeding (computing), a concept in computing and peer-to-pee ...

of teams for the 2011 World Cup was based on their respective IRB World Rankings. The top four at the

(

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and

) were not therefore allocated top pool spots, but "the rankings are now very well established and provide us with a credible and succinct way of seeding teams for the rugby World Cup pool draw", according to Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL) chairman Syd Millar. The draw was conducted in December 2008 and used the World Rankings as of 1 December 2008, after the Northern Hemisphere Autumn internationals. The teams were placed into three bands depending on their seedings at the time, with one team from each band in each of the pools. The rankings and bands were therefore: New Zealand (1), South Africa (2), Australia (3) and Argentina (4); Wales (5), England (6), France (7) and Ireland (8); Scotland (9), Fiji (10), Italy (11) and Tonga (12). The full draw and venues for the tournament were announced on 12 March 2009. The opening match saw the hosts, New Zealand, take on

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

. By coincidence, the final match and third-place playoff match were between the countries which contested the same matches at the first Rugby World Cup, which were also held in New Zealand, in 1987.

Squads

Each country was allowed a squad of 30 players for the tournament. These squads were to be submitted to the International Rugby Board by a deadline of 22 August 2011. Once the squad was submitted a player could be replaced if injured, but would not be allowed to return to the squad. There is also a stand-down period of 72 hours before the new player is allowed to take the field. Hence, a replacement player called into a squad on the eve of a game will not be permitted to play in that game.

Match officials

On 8 April 2011, the IRB named ten referees, seven assistant referees and four television match officials to handle the pool stage games. Two of the seven assistants will also be reserve referees if required. ;Referees *

Wayne Barnes Wayne Barnes (born 20 April 1979) is a retired English international rugby union referee. He was a frequent referee in the English Premiership, and refereed games in the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup. At international level, Bar ...

* George Clancy * Craig Joubert *

Jonathan Kaplan Jonathan Kaplan (born November 25, 1947) is an American film producer and film director, director. His film ''The Accused (1988 film), The Accused'' (1988) earned actress Jodie Foster the Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best Actress ...

* Bryce Lawrence *

Nigel Owens Nigel Owens, (born 18 June 1971) is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 23-year career. He previously held the world record for the most test matches refereed and was one of five international ...

* Dave Pearson * Romain Poite *

Alain Rolland Alain Colm Pierre Rolland (born 22 August 1966) is a former Ireland rugby union international and rugby union referee. He also played for Leinster. He refereed the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and was an assistant referee in the final of ...

* Steve Walsh ;Reserve and assistant referees * Jérôme Garcès *

Chris Pollock Chris Pollock is a former rugby union referee who represented the New Zealand Rugby Union. In 2008, he was part of the IRB's touch judge panel. He made his international referee debut in 2005, when he refereed Niue vs Tahiti, while his first I ...

;Assistant referees * Carlo Damasco * Tim Hayes * Simon McDowell * Vinny Munro * Stuart Terheege ;Television match officials * Giulio De Santis * Matt Goddard * Graham Hughes * Shaun Veldsman

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony for the 2011 Rugby World Cup took place at

on 9 September 2011 at 19:30 (

NZST Time in New Zealand is divided by law into two standard time zones. The main islands use New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), 12 hours in advance of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) / military M (Mike), while the outlying Chatham Islands use C ...

). The ceremony featured a blend of traditional

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

and modern New Zealand culture, and began with a fleet of 26 waka entering the city harbour. It featured traditional

haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...

and

sipi tau The kailao is a cultural dance from the South Pacific country of Tonga. It originates from Wallis and Futuna. History The kailao originated on the island collectivity of Wallis and Futuna, where it is still performed in public ceremonies. In Ton ...

dances in reference to the opening match between

and

, and ended with a large pyrotechnics display.

Pool stage

The first round, or pool stage, saw the twenty teams divided into four pools of five teams using the same format that was used in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. Each pool was a round-robin of ten games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same pool. Teams were awarded four points for a win, two points for a draw and none for a defeat. A team scoring four or more tries in one match scored a bonus point, as did a team losing by seven or fewer points. The teams finishing in the top two of each pool advanced to the quarter-finals. The top three teams of each pool have automatically qualified for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. ;Tie-breaking criteria If two or more teams were tied on match points, the following tiebreakers would have applied: # The winner of the match between the two teams (would not apply if more than two teams were tied); # Difference between points scored for and points scored against in all pool matches; # Difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all pool matches; # Points scored in all pool matches; # Most tries scored in all pool matches; # Official IRB World Rankings as of 3 October 2011.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Bronze final

Final

Statistics

The tournament's top point scorer was South African

Morné Steyn Morné Steyn, (born 11 July 1984) is a South African former professional rugby union player who played as a fly-half for the Bulls and played for the South Africa national team, up until his retirement from international test rugby in October ...

, who scored 62 points.

Chris Ashton Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is a retired English rugby union and former rugby league footballer, one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. Ashton primarily played wing and secondarily played fu ...

and

Vincent Clerc Vincent Clerc (born 7 May 1981) is a former France, French professional rugby union player who played on the Wing (rugby union), wing. Birth and early career Born in the city of Échirolles, suburb of the south of Grenoble (Isère), Clerc fir ...

scored the most tries, six in total.

Players of the tournament

Following the completion of the Rugby World Cup, the IRB's Rugby News Service listed the Top 5 players of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. These players were: *

Israel Dagg Israel Jamahl Akuhata Dagg (born 6 June 1988) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. He has also played for the New Zealand Sevens team, and represents Hawkes Bay in the ITM Cup. Dagg played i ...

Jerome Kaino Jerome Kaino (born 6 April 1983) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. In 2004, he was named IRB International Under-21 player of the year. In 2011, he was named the New Zealand Rugby player of the year, finishing ahead of Richie McCaw ...

* Jamie Roberts * Seán O'Brien * Jacques Burger

Broadcasting

Sky Network Television Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite television, satellite, media streaming services, and broadband internet services. Sky had 1,0 ...

, New Zealand's largest subscription television provider, was host broadcaster for the Rugby World Cup, transmitting all matches live and in high-definition coverage. Games were also available on

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

networks in New Zealand, but not all pool matches were screened live on free-to-air. Broadcasting rights were allocated throughout the world by the IRB, including highlights, free-to-air and

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

References

;General * *
IRB announce Rugby World Cup match officials
;Specific

External links

*

(Archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup 2011 in New Zealand rugby union 2011 rugby union tournaments for national teams

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

International rugby union competitions hosted by New Zealand September 2011 sports events in New Zealand October 2011 sports events in New Zealand