Qualification changes for future World Cups

Following a meeting of the Rugby World Cup Board it has been announced that changes will be made to the tournaments qualification process for RWC 2011 onwards and that the number of automatic qualifiers will increase to 12 places. These changes mean the top three teams from each pool will qualify for the following competition. Good news for some of the Tier 2 Countries who could now qualify automatically.

The other major change which will cut down on the logjam and lengthy qualification process sees other competitions count towards qualification. This means the major regional championships in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. In another exciting development, the introduction of a World Trophy tournament the year before RWC, providing matches at an appropriate level for Tier 2 and 3 Unions with the added incentive of silverware and qualification to Rugby World Cup. IRB Chairman, Dr Syd Millar stated: The World Trophy tournament, played at one venue, with places determined from the regional championship competitions will be highly competitive. The World Trophy tournament, played at one venue, with places determined from the regional championship competitions will be highly competitive. The tournament along with the upgrading of the regional championships will replace the existing qualifying process that has in the past duplicated existing match schedules and the repechage process that sees teams qualify very late in the lead up to RWC, added Dr Millar.

The exact number of qualifiers from the regional championships and the World Trophy qualifying tournament will depend upon the number of teams that will participate in each RWC finals tournament. The RWC Board is presently reviewing this number that presently stands at 20 teams, along with the use of the IRB World Rankings to determine the seedings and draw for the tournament.

The final announcement was that the tender process for the host Union of Rugby World Cup 2015 will begin in 2008.

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