2011 Rugby World Cup
The seventh Rugby Union World Cup was held from September 9 to October 23, 2011 in New Zealand instead. World Champions were the New Zealand All Blacks, who prevailed 8-7 in the final against France, and thus were able to take the second time since the 1987 World Championships the Webb Ellis Cup in reception.
At a meeting of the International Rugby Board (IRB ) in Dublin New Zealand had been appointed on 17 November 2005 as the host country, that it prevailed over Japan and South Africa. The implementation of the World Cup a cost of NZD 310 million (approx. EUR 170 million ). Were expecting revenue of NZD 280 million (approx. EUR 154 million ), the New Zealand Government and the New Zealand Rugby Union took over the shortfall. The date of the final was chosen so that it coincides with the subsequent Labour Day on October 24, and thereby gave a long weekend. The Rugby Union World Cup in 2011 was the biggest sporting event in New Zealand. So it was assumed that up to 95,000 visitors arrived from overseas.
- 9.1 quarterfinals
- 9.2 Semi-finals
- 9.3 3rd place match
- 9.4 final
- 9.5 Overview
Qualification for the finals
In addition to hosts New Zealand, which had also sporty qualified by reaching the quarter- finals of the World Cup 2007 for the final round, the seven other quarter finalists of the last World Cup finals and the four third- placed teams from the preliminary round were qualified for the tournament. So were eight places to be awarded for the total 20 -nation tournament in the qualification.
With a victory over the United States on July 11, 2009 Canada qualified as the first team for the World Cup. A week later, Samoa succeeded after the second victory over Papua New Guinea also the qualification. The United States qualified in November 2009 with two victories over Uruguay. Namibia secured by two successes on Tunisia to the World Cup. Also managed the qualification Georgia, Japan, Romania and for the first time ever, Russia.
The seeding order of the twelve automatically qualified teams was first determined by the IRB world rankings. In each group one crew was solved per pot.
Mode
The mode provided for 20 national teams that will compete first in groups and then in playoff games against each other. A total of 48 matches were played. The IRB had initially considered, the number of participants as last in 1995 to 16 teams (and thus 32 games) to reduce. In November, however, the decision was made for 20 teams. The representatives of the IRB were that just many of the initially considered "filler" teams had caused the most excitement among the spectators at the 2007 World Cup and many games but not so clearly assumed were as feared.
Participant
Venues
Only 1995 ( South Africa) and 2003 ( Australia) found the world championships previously held in a single country. During 1987 Australia and New Zealand together fought out the first World Cup, the nominal host countries of England (1991) and Wales (1999) were taken from structural and organizational reasons, agreements to discharge several games in the other so-called Five Nations. This was also the case with the host in France in 2007. In the 2011 World Cup, however, all games were played in the host country.
The Eden Park in Auckland with a capacity of 60,000 spectators was the venue for the finals of the game for third place, the two semi-finals, two quarter-finals and five preliminary round games. Eight matches were held in Wellington, four each in Dunedin and North Shore City, three in Hamilton, Invercargill, Nelson, New Plymouth and Rotorua, two in Napier, Palmerston North and Whangarei. Because of the damage that caused the Christchurch Earthquake of February 22, 2011 at the AMI Stadium, the responsible Minister Murray McCully announced on 16 March that would be held in Christchurch, the second largest city in the country, no games. Originally five group matches and two quarterfinals were provided there.
Westpac Stadium ( 36,000 seats) Wellington
Rotorua International Stadium ( 34,000 seats) Rotorua
Forsyth Barr Stadium ( 30,500 seats) Dunedin
Waikato Stadium ( 25,800 seats) Hamilton
North Harbour Stadium ( 25,000 seats) North Shore City
Okara Park ( 25,000 seats) Whangarei
Yarrow Stadium ( 25,000 seats) New Plymouth
McLean Park ( 22,000 seats ) Napier
Trafalgar Park ( 20,080 seats) Nelson
Arena Manawatu ( 18,000 seats) Palmerston North
Rugby Park Stadium ( 17,000 seats) Invercargill
Sponsoring
On 26 September 2008, the IRB introduced the first so-called Worldwide Partner of the World Cup. Emirates Airline had been sponsor of the World Cup in 2007 as well as other rugby union competitions. The second main sponsor of the tournament Mastercard was announced. The official beer of the World Cup is produced by Heineken. The group was already a sponsor of the previous World Cup tournament and is namesakes of European club competition, the Heineken Cup. The broadcasting rights for all 48 games got Sky Television New Zealand.
Official
On 8 April 2011, the IRB announced the names of the officials known. A total of ten and eleven assistant referees were determined. Two of the wizard can, if necessary, to step in as a replacement referee.
Tournament Rules
There were four preliminary round groups with five participants. Within each group, teams played against each other once each. The teams ranked 1 and 2 qualified for the quarter-finals. The third-placed teams secured the right to participate in the 2015 World Cup.
The distribution of points in the preliminary round took place according to the following bonus points system:
- 4 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 0 points for a loss (before possible bonus points )
- 1 bonus point for four or more attempts, regardless of the Final
- 1 bonus point for a loss by seven or fewer game points difference
In case of equality of two or more teams the better table position was successively determined as follows:
The final round began with the quarter-finals. Every game had to necessarily end with a victory. Stand it in a meeting after the regular time of 80 minutes a draw was followed by an extension of 2 x 10 minutes. Was still no winner determined, there was a further extension of ten minutes duration, Sudden Death. If after a total of 110 minutes it is still decided a winner, the winner was determined in a drop kick shootout.
Preliminary round
- Qualified for the quarter-finals and World Cup 2015
- Qualified for World Cup 2015
Group A
Hosts New Zealand secured think the group. Against Canada and Japan reach the All Blacks clear victories with 64 and 76 points difference. Somewhat less clear victory fell out in the opening match against Tonga. Effortlessly succeeded against France revenge for the defeat in the quarter-finals of 2007.
Moderate performance in the first round showed the French. Following wins against Japan and Canada, the defeat was followed in the top match against New Zealand. As one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, losing to the Pacific island nation of Tonga is to be evaluated. Despite two defeats, the French could almost qualify for the quarterfinals.
The Tongans came with the victory against France one of its most significant achievements at all. However, they missed qualifying for the final round this. Due to a rather unexpected defeat against Canada
Could not intervene in the decision to win the group, as expected, Canada and Japan, which played out the only draw this World Cup in the direct encounter.
Group B
Vice world champion England secured with four hits while winning the group, but came to a total of less than convincing. While the victories over Georgia and Romania turned out relatively clearly, Argentina could only be very closely beaten. In the final group game against Scotland even threatened departure from the tournament; only in the last minutes of the game, the Englishman walked a narrow lead in a defeat they would only become group parties.
Argentina, third in the 2007 World Cup, qualified only with good luck for the final round. Cougars get relatively effortless victory against Romania and Georgia. The other two games, however, were highly competitive. While against England resulted in a narrow defeat with four points difference, Argentina defeated Scotland with only one point difference.
Scotland began with two hard-won victories against the Mavericks Romania and Georgia. In the third match against Argentina was followed by an extremely narrow defeat. In order to qualify for the final round, the Scots would have had to beat England in the final game. Up to 78 minutes led them against arch-rivals, but then gave the award- winning and thus the qualification.
Georgia sat down in a duel of the two weakest teams against Romania and prepared by Scotland considerable effort. The Romanians could hope in the opening match against Scotland until shortly before closing on a draw; the other three games were clearly lost.
Group C
Unexpectedly, Ireland chose this group for itself. The Irish celebrated a rare success against the favored Australians and these refer to the second place. In the quarter-final pairings the result had the effect that in both panel halves only teams in the same hemisphere were found. While the victory against the United States turned out relatively scarce, the Irish against Russia and Italy had no trouble.
Australia began with a befitting victory over Italy, but lost against many predictions, the top game of the group against Ireland. With two significant victories over the United States and Russia, the Wallabies secured the second place group.
Also at the seventh World Cup appearance failed the Italians to qualify for the final round. Both against Australia and against Ireland they could indeed balance out the game in the first half, but then broke into the second half. The two wins against the USA and Russia were ultimately impacts.
In a direct duel between the two weakest teams in the group, the Americans put almost through against the Russians. Otherwise, partly resulted significant defeats.
Group D
The reigning world champions South Africa was able to Wales in the top game of the group to beat with only one point difference. Against Fiji and in particular against neighbors Namibia resulted in two significant victories. However, significantly more effort had the Springboks in their last game against Samoa.
Wales was achieved with a 16:17 in the first game against South Africa almost a minor surprise. During the win against Samoa been rather scarce, the Welsh against Namibia and Fiji proved to be clearly superior. Thus they secured the second place group.
The Samoans get two significant victories against Fiji and Namibia. However, in balanced games against South Africa and Wales they missed the opportunity to decide the game in their favor.
Fiji, which had qualified four years ago for the quarter-finals, disappointed. Only against the outsiders Namibia managed a victory, the third group rank and thus the direct qualification for the 2015 World Championships missed the Fijians. Namibia turned out as expected as the weakest team of the World Cup and lost all four games clear.
Final round
In the final round, the North and the Southern Hemisphere shared one half of the panel. So it was clear from the outset that in any case a northern and a southern team would reach the final.
Quarterfinals
In the first quarter-final Wales went as early as the third minute through a try from Shane Williams in the lead. The Irishman Ronan O'Gara shortened in the 24th minute with a penalty kick to 3:7, five minutes later Leigh Halfpenny also recovered a penalty kick to Pausenstand 3:10. In the 45th minute, Keith Earls could compensate for Ireland with an attempt to 10:10. From now on, however, the Welsh dominated the game. With two tries from Mike Phillips ( 51 ) and Jonathan Davies ( 66 ) they moved it to 22:10. The Irish, however, were unable to respond.
England and France met in the second quarterfinal. The French forced the opponent's defender in the ruck to numerous errors, reducing them three penalty kicks were awarded. Dimitri Yachvili could use two of them to 6:0. Vincent Clerc scored in the 22nd and Maxime Médard after 31 minutes each a try, so that the French deserve the break led to 16:0. Only in the 55th minute England could score when Ben Foden shortened with an attempt at 7:16. With a drop goal from Francois Trinh -Duc France pulled away to 19:7. The trial of Mark Cueto in the 77th minute came too late. With the 19:12 win the French succeeded in revenge for the losses against England World Cup defeats of 2003 and 2007.
South Africa and Australia faced each other in the third quarter-finals. The South African Springboks controlled the game Gifts in the areas of possession and space gain largely. Nevertheless, they managed to not once, to break through the defense wallabies. Completely contrary to the gameplay James Horwill could achieve a try for Australia and increase James O'Connor six minutes later with a penalty kick to 8:0 in the 11th minute. Morné Steyn shortened one minute before the break to 3:8. Also in the second half, South Africa was playful superior, but ran unsuccessfully against the Australian defense. Morne Steyn scored with a penalty kick and a drop goal between the temporal 9:8 guide for South Africa. However, a further penalty kick O'Connor in the 72nd minute meant that Australia finally won with just under 11:9.
New Zealand had the fourth quarterfinal much more trouble against Argentina, as the result of 33:10 would suggest. Due to various defensive error cougars the All Blacks were awarded several penalty kicks. Piri Weepu, who stepped in for the injured Daniel Carter as foosball, recycled them to break four. Even before the break had to be replaced with Colin Slade injured Carter's replacement on the connector position. Through a trial of Julio Farías Cabello and an increase led the Argentines from the 31st to the 36th minute in the meantime 7:6. The halftime score was 12:7 from the perspective of New Zealand. At the beginning of the second half Argentina were going to approach within two points before Weepu penalty kicks with another goal for the New Zealand guide. Towards the end of the game the All Blacks managed to break through the Argentine defense twice. It achieved Kieran Read ( 67 ) and Brad Thorn ( 77 ) each have a try.
Semifinal
Wales and France disputed in the pouring rain the first semi-final, with the adverse conditions made it difficult to control of the ball strong. James Hook took Wales after eight minutes with a penalty kick in the lead. In the 19th minute the Welsh captain Sam Warburton was provided with a red card from the place after he had Vincent Clerc thrown with a foul and dangerous tackle to the ground. Morgan Parra made with two penalty kicks for a 6-3 half-time lead of the French. Although the Welsh were less on the pitch with a man who had little success in the French, to break through the defense. Parra increased with a penalty kick in the meantime to 9:3. Mike Phillips brought Wales with a try in the 58th minute at 8:9 zoom, but Stephen Jones missed the possible lead when he kicked the subsequent increase in addition to the times Tangen. In the remaining twenty minutes succeeded in none of the teams to set the tone.
In the second semi-final Australia and New Zealand came together. The All Blacks were found to be superior in the attack, while the Wallabies had to rush to answer back but little. An attempt by Ma'a Nonu brought the scoring after six minutes in, while Piri Weepu increased after 13 minutes with a penalty kick to 8:0. Aaron Cruden, who had been re-nominated after Carter's injury, contributed a drop goal. On the part of the Australians scored points only James O'Connor ( penalty kick ) and the New Zealand-born Quade Cooper ( drop goal ). The halftime score was 6:14. In the second half, the Australians succeeded hardly an attack, while the New Zealanders largely focused on the management of the projection. Weepu increased with two other penalty kicks to 20:6 draw.
3rd Place Match
To the third place play the semi-final losers Wales and Australia, the game was marked, especially in the first half on both sides of numerous errors. The Wallabies went after twelve minutes through a try from Berrick Barnes in the lead. Quade Cooper (AUS) suffered to be substituted after 20 minutes and had a torn ACL, while James Hook of Wales shortened the halftime score of 3:7. After both teams had previously largely neutralized each other, they went into the second half, increasingly on the offensive. An attempt by Shane Williams in the 50th minute brought Wales 8-7 lead. James O'Connor then recycled two penalty kicks to 13:8, 68 minutes Barnes scored a drop goal to 16:8. In the 71st minute brought Stephen Jones the Welshman with a penalty kick again to zoom 11:16. However, Ben McCalman nullified the Welsh hopes when he scored a try in the 76th minute to 11:21. Although there is no realistic chance of victory was more, the Welsh attacked to continue. In injury time Leigh Halfpenny operation some consolation with his attempt to 18:21.
Final
As with the 1987 World Cup, France and New Zealand were compared to the final. Both teams were evenly matched and could hardly attack the enemy possibilities. In the 15th minute Tony Woodcock took advantage of an error in the French streets throw and scoring a try for the 5-0 lead the All Blacks. Both Morgan Parra ( FRA ) and Aaron Cruden (NZL ) had to be replaced due to injury in the first half. Since Piri Weepu could not apply the increase and two penalty kicks, it stayed at the break with the narrow lead for New Zealand. In the 46th minute, Stephen Donald could increase with a successful penalty kick is performed on 8:0. But the French reacted promptly with a successful attempt by the team captain Thierry Dusautoir. François Trinh -Duc, they could approach reconcile with the subsequent increase up to a point. As a result, both teams neutralized each other. A penalty kick by Trinh -Duc failed, and thus missed the French to decide the game in their favor. Richie McCaw, the captain of the All Blacks, taking over after the final whistle, the World Cup trophy ( Webb Ellis Cup ) in reception.
Survey
New Zealand New Zealand ( Second title )
Statistics
Source: Statistics Player Rugby World Cup 2011