Rugby World Cup: Top 10 Winners Fun Facts

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The Rugby World Cup is a grand event that brings together some of the best talents in the world of rugby. Here are the top 10 funny facts about the winners and stats of this prestigious tournament:

Champion’s Club: Out of the nine editions of the Rugby World Cup, only four countries have been victorious¹. It seems like a pretty exclusive club!
Perpetual Runners Up: France has reached the final three times but has lost every time². They’re like the Leonardo DiCaprio of rugby before he won his Oscar!
The Unlucky Ten: There are 10 countries that have been at every Rugby World Cup since 1987². Out of these countries, Italy is the only team to never make it to the quarterfinals². Talk about always being a bridesmaid and never a bride!
Points Galore: England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson holds the record for the most points scored (277) in Rugby World Cups³. That’s more than some people can count on their fingers and toes!
Try, Try Again: All Black Jonah Lomu and South Africa’s Bryan Habana share the record for tries with 15³. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again… or in their case, try 15 times!
Marathon Matches: The longest match in Rugby World Cup history lasted over 100 minutes⁴. That’s longer than some Hollywood movies!
High Scoring Games: The highest scoring game in Rugby World Cup history was when New Zealand scored 145 points against Japan⁴. Now that’s a lot of tries!
The ‘Cursed’ Team: Ireland, who are one of the four favorites to win alongside France, New Zealand and South Africa, have actually never made it past the quarter-finals stage, leading many to brand them ‘cursed’⁵.
Record Breakers: The 2019 Rugby World Cup generated approximately £4.3 billion in revenue – the highest total of any Rugby World Cup to date⁶. Now that’s a lot of rugby balls!
Final Rivalry: The first Rugby World Cup final in 1987 saw home-team New Zealand defeat France 29-9 in front of 48,000 die-hard fans at Eden Park in Auckland². Talk about home field advantage!