World Cup By the Numbers Trivia Quiz

Answer: 20

Twelve teams qualified automatically due to their performances in the pool matches at the previous Rugby World Cup, held in 2019. Regional competitions decided the remining qualifying teams. France, as hosts, qualified automatically and most of the teams came from Europe, a total of nine.

Portugal made only their second appearance, with their previous one coming in 2007 while Georgia and Romania also qualified from Europe.

Answer: 5

This honour fell to Henry Arundell, who was playing his first match of the tournament. The opponents were Chile, and England cut loose with eleven tries scored in total and five by Arundell, from the right wing. The final score was 71-0, the highest total and margin in Pool D.

Arundell's five tries tied him with Josh Lewsey who also scored five against Uruguay in 2003. England's score was eclipsed though, as France won 96-0 against Namibia and New Zealand won 96-17 versus Italy and had another win of 71-3 with Namibia being beaten in that game.

Answer: 9

Initially, twelve venues were chosen with this list reduced to nine. The remaining cities were Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Saint-Étienne, Lille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Paris. The early matches took place in September with sunny, warm weather being the norm, especially for matches played in the south of France. By the time the final arrived, at the end of October, autumn had arrived and rain was common.

Both semi-finals, the third place play-off and the final were played in Paris at the Stade de France. This is France's national stadium, home to both the rugby union and association football national teams, and also hosts athletics (track and field).

Answer: 21

France's full back had a successful tournament with his kicking. Conversions refer to the kicks taken after a try has been scored, each successful kick adding two points to the team's total. When you consider that France were eliminated at the quarter final stage, having been tipped to win the tournament, his achievement is even more admirable, although his statistics were helped when he converted twelve of the thirteen tries France scored against Namibia.

The top points scorer in the tournament as a whole was England's Owen Farrell, with 75 points all from kicks - a drop goal, conversions and penalties. In the process he overtook Jonny Wilkinson as England's all time top points scorer.

Answer: 4

The teams were divided into four pools of five teams. Countries were seeded based on their rankings in January 2020, which threw up some anomalies. For example, Ireland were ranked five in 2020 but were the number one ranked team by the time the competition began. Their original ranking put them into the same pool as South Africa. Although Ireland won their group comfortably, they were eliminated in the quarter finals, making it the eighth time they had failed to progress further than that stage.

The biggest losers were Australia, who lost two of their four matches - to Wales and Fiji - failing to qualify for the quarter-finals of the RWC for the first time in their history.

Answer: 3

Argentina qualified automatically while the other two were Uruguay and Chile, with the latter team making its first appearance in the competition. Argentina and Chile were in the same pool, along with England, Japan and Samoa. Chile lost all their matches, but Argentina progressed to quarter finals (beat Wales 29-17) and the semi-finals, where they were beaten by New Zealand. 44-6

Uruguay won only one match, beating Namibia in pool A which also included France, New Zealand and Italy.

Answer: 26

England went into the tournament with a poor run of form so even their most devoted fans didn't have much hope, although the pool they were in was favourable. Their tournament started badly when Tim Curry was given a yellow card, later upgraded to red, for a potentially dangerous tackle in their first game and after only three minutes, leaving England to play most of the game a man down. Despite this, they won the game and the other three pool matches before defeating Fiji at the quarter final stage.

In the semi-final, they faced South Africa with Farrell scoring all of their points with three penalties and a drop goal. South Africa scored the only try, converted by Pollard, who also scored two penalties to add to an earlier one by Libbok to give them a 16-15 win.

This left England to face Argentina for the bronze medal in a repeat of their first match of the tournament. At one time, England looked comfortable before Argentina fought back, but England's 26 points from two tries, two conversions and four penalties saw off the opponents who totalled 23 points - the difference was just one penalty kick.

Answer: 1

The final was played on 28 October 2023 at the Stade de France in Paris between South Africa and New Zealand. Both teams had three previous wins to their credit so whichever of them won would be setting a new record by winning a fourth title. South Africa also held the record of having never lost in a final and had beaten New Zealand previously in a final when they won in 1995.

The match was tight and New Zealand scored the only try, but Pollard's four penalties proved decisive with South Africa winning 12-11. This was their third consecutive win by the narrowest possible margin having won their quarter final against France 29-28 and then defeating England 16-15 in the semi-final.

Answer: 8

Jordan played all his tournament matches on the right wing for New Zealand. He scored four tries in the pool matches, two against Italy and two against Uruguay. He was rested for the match against Namibia - if he had played his tally could well have been higher.

Jordan added one more in the quarter final against Ireland and a further three against semi-final opponents Argentina. Although he played in the final, Jordan was unable to add to his tries, but still finished with the highest number scored at the tournament.

Answer: 12

The final was contested by New Zealand and defending champions South Africa. New Zealand won their semi-final against Argentina 44-6 while South Africa beat England, their final opponents in 2019, 16-15.

New Zealand's captain, Sam Cane, was given a yellow card for a high tackle just before the half hour mark. When this was upgraded to red, it meant that New Zealand had to play with only fourteen men for the remainder of the match. New Zealand scored the only try of the final with Beaudon Barrett crossing the line. Richie Mo'unga had already kicked two penalties but was unable to convert the try, leaving New Zealand with eleven points. For South Africa, the reliable Handre Pollard had kicked all four of the penalties he took. South Africa finished with twelve points and claimed the cup for a record breaking fourth time.