Rugby World Cup was conceived in late 1983 when the Australian Rugby Union and the New Zealand Rugby Football Union had each independently written to the International Rugby Board seeking to conduct a World Cup tournament.
In 1985 the IRB approved for the inaugural Rugby World Cup to be jointly staged in Australia and New Zealand in May and June of 1987.
Rugby World Cup 1987 consisted of 16 invited countries with both semi-finals to be played in Australia with the final and third/fourth play-off matches to be both played in New Zealand.
Rugby World Cup 1999 was broadcast to over 150 countries reaching a cumulative audience of over 3 billion people.
In 2003, a total of 20 teams, with eight quarter-finalists took part.
France :: 07 September 2007
