2023 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification

Qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup for European Rugby began in March 2021, where six teams compete for two direct qualification spots into the final tournament and for a place in the Final Qualification Tournament.

2023 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification
Tournament details
Dates6 March 2021 – 20 March 2022
No. of nations6
Tournament statistics
Matches played27
← 2019
2027 →

Format

The Rugby Europe Championship, controlled by Rugby Europe, is the regional qualification tournament for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. The winner and runners-up of the two-year cycle, automatically qualify to the tournament as Europe 1 and Europe 2 respectively while the third team qualifies Final qualification tournament as Europe 3.

Entrants

Six teams competed during the European qualifiers for the 2023 Rugby World Cup; teams World Rankings are prior to the first European qualification matches on 6 March.

Teams in Bold have previously played in a World cup.

NationRankBegan playQualifying status
 England3N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2019 World Cup
 France4N/AQualified as Hosts
 Georgia126 March 2021Qualified as Europe 1 on 10 March 2022
 Ireland6N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2019 World Cup
 Italy14N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2019 World Cup
 Netherlands2426 June 2021Eliminated by Spain on 5 February 2022
 Portugal206 March 2021Advances to Final Qualification Tournament as Europe 3 via points deduction on 28 April
 Romania196 March 2021Qualified as Europe 2 via points deduction on 28 April 2022
 Russia216 March 2021Disqualified from competition on 28 February 2022[1][2]
 Scotland8N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2019 World Cup
 Spain1714 March 2021Eliminated via points deduction on 28 April 2022
 Wales7N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2019 World Cup

Rugby Europe Championship

Table

For the Rugby Europe Championship teams, results were considered on a 2-year aggregate from the 2021 and 2022 seasons; the winner and runner-up teams automatically qualified for the tournament as Europe 1 and Europe 2 individually, leaving the team in third place to qualify for the Final qualification tournament as Europe 3.

Following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, Rugby Europe suspended all Russian games on home soil on 25 February before later suspending Russia at all levels with immediate effect on 1 March. This later resulted in the cancelled games being declared a walkover and the opposition of Russia would be given 4 points.

Georgia were confirmed as Europe 1 following a walkover result against Russia whilst on 13 March, Spain had secured Europe 2 with a win over Portugal. However, on the 28 March, it was announced Spain would be investigated for fielding an ineligible player in two World Cup qualifying matches.[3] On 28 April, an independent judicial committee determined that Spain did breach the regulation, and deducted 10 points from the table. This resulted in Spain dropping out of the top three qualifying/play-off places meaning Romania qualified as Europe 2 and Portugal would proceed to the play-offs.

Qualified as Europe 1
Qualified as Europe 2
Advances to Final Qualification Tournament as Europe 3
Disqualified
Pos. Team Games Points Tries TBP LBP GS Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff For Against Diff
1 Georgia10910325146+1794714+3350144[a]
2 Romania10604289232+573527+822028
3 Portugal10514335237+984431+1322026[a]
4 Spain10604334244+904430+1432019*
5 Russia10208159217−581827−911010
6 Netherlands1010998464−3661372−590004[a]
Source - [4]
Points were awarded to the teams as follows:
Win – 4 points | Draw – 2 points | At least 3 more tries than opponent – 1 point | Loss within 7 points – 1 point | Completing a Grand Slam – 1 point
a Georgia, Portugal and Netherlands awarded 4 points for cancelled games against Russia[5][2]
* deducted points[6]

2021

2022

See also

References
  1. "World Rugby confirms sporting sanctions for Russia and Belarus". World Rugby. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  2. "Georgia Qualify for Rugby World Cup 2023". World Rugby. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  3. Statement - Spain Eligibility Case
  4. "Rugby World Cup 2023 Qualifier".
  5. "Rugby Europe International Championships 2018-2019 Manual" (PDF). Rugby Europe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  6. INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL COMMITTEE DECISION: RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 EUROPEAN QUALIFYING
  7. "2021 Rugby Europe Championship Fixtures announced".
  8. "New dates unveiled for Rugby Europe Championship".
  9. "ზაფხულის სანაკრებო სეზონი თელავში გაიხსნება". 18 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  10. https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/media/wqqftt3r/netherlands-v-por.pdf
  11. "Сборная России сыграет с Португалией в Нижнем Новгороде".
  12. "Championship 2021".
  13. "Stejarii vor întâlni Uruguay, Țările de Jos și Tonga în meciurile din luna noiembrie, pe Stadionul Național de Rugby Arcul de Triumf". FRR (in Romanian). 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  14. "Italia A, Fiyi y Rusia, rivales en un otoño de nivel para el XV del León en Madrid". FER (in Spanish). 4 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  15. World Rugby confirms sporting sanctions for Russia and Belarus
  16. "Georgia v Spain".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.