RWC 2011 Hosted By New Zealand

The 2011 Rugby World Cup will be the seventh Rugby World Cup. At a meeting of the International Rugby Board (IRB) held in Dublin on 17 November 2005, New Zealand was selected as the host country beating off a strong challenge from Japan and South Africa. There were two rounds of voting by the IRB Council, with South Africa eliminated in the first round and then Japan much to the disappointment of the second level nations who had hoped to have the contest with one of theirs for the first time.

Expect 12 Maori Venues

We now have confirmation the tournament will start around September and end early in November 2011. The IRB having reached this conclusion at their meeting in November 2006. There will be 48 matches, and the potential for 12 different venues. The final will be played at Eden Park in Auckland, which will have a crowd capacity of over 60,000. Following its re-development. It will be the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games and the 2003 America's Cup, as the worldwide popularity for rugby union continues to expand.

2011 RWC News

Romania on track for RWC 2011 play-off - Romania took a big step towards the cross-continental play-off to determine the 20th and final qualifier for Rugby World Cup 2011 with a 33-3 defeat of Ukraine at the Spartak Stadium in Kiev on Saturday

Asia 5 Nations Champions Japan - Japan 94-5 Hong Kong - Japan win the Asia 5 Nations and qualify as Asia One for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand by beating Hong Kong 94-5

Asia 5 Nations Results wk4 & Fixtures - Arabian Gulf win their last Asia 5 Nations International and Japan continue with another empathetic win and almost certain RWC2011 qualification

Asia 5 Nations Results wk3 & Fixtures - Hong Kong keep hope alive with a narrow victory and Japan continue with another empathetic win

Asia 5 Nations Results wk2 & Fixtures - Hong Kong go down to Arabian Golf and Japan start with an empathetic win