A record 86 nations from five continents took part in the qualifying process for Rugby World Cup 2007 with 191 matches held over 932 days to determine which 12 teams would join the eight automatic qualifiers in France.
The first took place at the Molt Illustre Conseille General in Andorra la Vella, the capital city of the Principality located between France and Spain in the Pyrennes region, on 4 September 2004 with Andorra running out 76-3 winners over Norway.
The final qualifier was some two years, six months and 21 days later at the Estadio Parque Central del Club Nacional in Montevideo, where the hosts suffered heartbreak as Portugal ran out 24-23 winners on aggregate despite Uruguay’s 18-12 win on 24 March.
Final qualifier
Portugal therefore became the 20th and final qualifier for Rugby World Cup 2007, the tournament debutants earning their spot in Pool C alongside 1987 champions New Zealand, Scotland, Italy and Romania.
Six hundred and 10 days earlier the first two nations to join the eight automatic qualifiers for Rugby World Cup 2007 had become known with Samoa and Fiji taking the two berths available in the Oceania region at Tonga’s expense in July 2005.
A year later Argentina booked their tickets to France and before 2006 had been consigned to history Canada, USA Eagles, Romania, Italy, Namibia, Japan and Georgia had swelled the confirmed participants to 18.
That left only the two berths available through the Répechage to be determined with Tonga for the third qualifying campaign in a row ending Korean dreams to seal the first, before Portugal qualified for their first ever Rugby World Cup after edging Uruguay.
20 nations decided
The 20 nations that will converge on France for RWC 2007 are therefore England, Australia, New Zealand, France, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Samoa, Fiji, Argentina, Canada, USA, Romania, Italy, Namibia, Japan, Georgia, Tonga and Portugal.
For the first eight named they have had four years to plan for the tournament, having secured automatic qualification by virtue of reaching the quarter final stages at Rugby World Cup 2003 in Australia.
Seven of these nations also qualified automatically for the last World Cup, the exception being Ireland who had to go down the European qualifying route after losing to Argentina 28-24 in the quarter final playoffs back in 1999.
They avoided a repeat performance by edging Argentina 16-15 in the pool stages to join Australia in progressing to the quarter finals in 2003, so condemning Argentina to facing the likes of Chile and Uruguay in the CONSUR qualifiers in the Americas zone again.
Scotland, likewise, only scraped into the quarter finals with a 22-20 defeat of Fiji in their must-win last pool match to guarantee themselves automatic qualification and maintain their record of having reached the last eight at every Rugby World Cup.
Inaugural champions New Zealand, two-time winners Australia, defending champions England and two-time losing finalists France are the only others among the automatic qualifiers to boast that similar proud record.
South Africa, the 1995 champions, can say the same for the three they have competed in, having been prevented from participating in 1987 and 1991 due to their international sporting boycott as a result of the apartheid regime in the country.
Hosts still to win
Of these only France are yet to lift the Webb Ellis Cup, while New Zealand are the only ones with the proud tradition of never failing to reach the semi finals, even if they haven’t been able to call themselves world champions since Australia succeeded them in 1991.
The one blip in Wales’ record came back in 1991 when they were famously beaten by Western Samoa 16-13 at Cardiff Arms Park, a result which saw them fail to progress from the pool stages. They lost to Samoa again in 1999 but still reached the last eight.
For Ireland, the only one of the automatic qualifiers never to have reached a World Cup semi final, the quarter final playoff loss to Argentina is their one disappointment, having suffered last eight losses to Australia in 1987 and 1991 and France in 1995 and 2003.
England became the first northern hemisphere nation to win the World Cup in 2003, but a mere nine months and 14 days after Martin Johnson lifted the Webb Ellis Cup on an emotional night in Sydney, the long road to France 2007 kicked off in Andorra.
