Rugby World Cup2011 Argentina Australia England Fiji France Ireland Italy New Zealand Scotland South Africa Tonga Wales

2011 Rugby World Cup

 

 

2011 Rugby World Cup

The 2011 Rugby World Cup will be the 7^th Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. 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. It will be the major sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games, 1992 Cricket World Cup, 2003 America’s Cup and 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. Around 70,000 visitors from overseas are expected to travel to New Zealand for the associated games and events.

The event is scheduled to be played over seven weekends from the weekend starting 10 September and culminating the weekend starting 22 October 2011. The weekend of the final was chosen so it falls on a long weekend caused by the New Zealand public holiday of Labour Day (Monday, 24 October 2011). The final is scheduled to be played in Auckland at Eden Park.

As of 19 February 2008, New Zealand’s progress in preparing and implementing plans for the event received an A+ rating from the International Rugby Board’s chairman and chief executive.

After speculation that the number of participating teams would be reduced to 16, the IRB announced on Friday, 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.

Costs

The event is expected to cost about NZ$310 million to run and to generate NZ$280 million in ticket sales. In Auckland, the city where many of the most important games will take place, the costs to the local ratepayers alone has been estimated at $102 million.

Qualification

2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying began at the 2007 tournament in France where the first 3 teams in each pool earned a place in the finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

After much speculation, it was confirmed on 30 November 2007 that 20 teams would contest the next edition of the tournament. The qualification system for the remaining eight places was region-based with Europe and the Americas allocated two qualifying places; Africa, Asia and Oceania one place each; and the last place determined by a playoff.

With 86 teams participating (directly or indirectly) in regional qualifying competitions and a further 12 teams qualifying automatically, 98 nations were involved in the 2011 Rugby World Cup process.

Argentina

Australia

England

Fiji

France

Ireland

Italy

New Zealand

Scotland

South Africa

Tonga

Wales

The remaining eight teams qualified for the 2011 World Cup through regional qualifying competitions:

Canada

Georgia

Japan

Namibia

Romania

Russia

Samoa

United States

Russia will be the only country making its World Cup debut in 2011.

Venues

The 13 venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup were confirmed on 12 March 2009.

A number of the venues announced are undergoing redevelopment to increase capacity for the event. Dunedin is currently building a new stadium named Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, due for completion in August 2011. If completed on schedule, it will be used instead of Carisbrooke.

Due to damage suffered to Stadium Christchurch and many of the services in the city following the earthquake on 22 February 2011, it was announced on 16 March that Christchurch would lose its Rugby World Cup games. The two quarter-finals scheduled would be moved to Auckland, while the five group matches will move to other centers. Despite setbacks, International Rugby Board Chairman Bernard Lapasset told news outlet Around the Rings that the world cup “will be fantastic because this is not just Rugby World Cup for the New Zealand people. It will be the Rugby World Cup for all countries.”

Venue
Stadium	City	Country	Capacity
Eden Park	Auckland	New Zealand	60,000
Wellington Regional Stadium	Wellington	New Zealand	40,000
Otago Stadium	Dunedin	New Zealand	30,000
Waikato Stadium	Hamilton	New Zealand	30,000
Rotorua Int’t Stadium	Rotorua	New Zealand	26,000
Yarrow Stadium	New Plymouth	New Zealand	26,000
Trafalgar Park	Nelson	New Zealand	18,000
Rugby Park Stadium	Invercargill	New Zealand	17,000
Okara Park	Whangarei	New Zealand	18,000
McLean Park	Napier	New Zealand	15,000
Arena Manawatu	Palmerston North	New Zealand	15,000

 2011, new zealand 2011, new zealand rugby world cup 2011, rnz, rugby, rugby new zealand, rugby online, rugby world cup, rugby world cup 2011, rugby world cup 2011 live stream, rugby world cup 2011 live streaming, rugby world cup live online, rugby world cup live stream, rugby world cup online, rugbyworldcup.com,rwc, rwc 2011, rwc online, world cup