2019 Rugby World Cup qualifying
The 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifying process began during the pool stages of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where the top three teams of each pool automatically qualified for the 2019 event. Twelve teams qualified for the 2019 Rugby World Cup by virtue of finishing in the top 3 in their respective pools during the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Japan, who finished third in their group, would have automatically qualified as hosts in any case.
A further eight teams are to qualify by playing qualifying matches between 2016 and 2018 in regional tournaments and a repechage round-robin tournament.[1] The qualifying matches began on 5 March 2016, when Jamaica defeated Saint Vincent and the Grenadines by 48–0.[2]
Qualifiers
| Qualified via | Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Oceania |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 RWC |
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| Regional slots |
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| Inter-confederation play-off[a] |
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| Repechage tournament[a] |
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- ^ a b Final slots to be determined. Possible teams pointed in italic.
- ^ a b c d Europe/Oceania play-off qualifier: The third place team from the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup will play a home and away play-off with the second-ranked team in the Rugby Europe Championship (excluding Georgia) with the winner on aggregate qualifying for RWC 2019. The loser will qualify for the repechage tournament
- ^ a b Asia/Oceania play-off for repechage place: The highest-ranked Asian Rugby Championship team, will play a home and away play-off series against the Oceania Cup winner, to gain a berth in the repechage tournament.
Qualification process
Qualification started in the pool stage of RWC 2015 tournament. 12 teams received an automatic qualification berth by finishing in the top 3 positions of their respective pools.
A further 8 berths for the tournament were then available through regional tournaments and the repechage process.
The non-automatic qualification process began in 2016, by the end of which the final 8 berths will be filled by November 2018.
The pool draw for the 2019 Rugby World Cup will take place in May 2017. As with the 2015 tournament, the top 12 teams will be grouped into 3 bands for the pool draw as per their World Rugby Rankings on that date, while the other 8 qualifying teams will be split into a fourth and fifth band. One team from each band will be drawn into each pool.
Regional qualification
Six of the final eight places were assigned to different regions by World Rugby; with the final two places being decided by an inter-confederation play-off and a repechage round-robin tournament.
| Region | Qualifiers from 2015 RWC |
Teams entered qualifying process |
Teams still in qualifying process |
Qualifying places |
Next matchday |
Qualifying teams |
World Cup pool(s) |
Repechage places |
Repechage teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 1 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 5 July 2017 | TBD | TBD | 1 | TBD |
| Americas | 1 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 27 January 2018 |  United States/TBD
|
C/D | 1 | TBD |
| Asia | 1 | 10 | 3 | 0 | April 2018 | TBD | TBD | 0/13 | TBD |
| Europe | 7 | 30 | 7 | 1/22 | November 2017 | TBD | TBD | 0/11 | TBD |
| Oceania | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2/32 | 8 July 2017 | TBD | TBD | 0/1/22,3 | TBD |
| TOTALS | 12 | 78 | 28 | 7 | 4 | (1 WC Place) |
1 European Qualifying: The European qualification process incorporates results from the 2016-2017 European Nations Cup, with a series of playoffs between lower divisional winners (similar to the 2015 Rugby World Cup). The top placed team (other than Georgia) from combined results across 2016-17 and 2017-18 will qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, while the second placed team (other than Georgia) will play-off against the winner of the lower level play-offs for the right to face the third-placed team from the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup.
2 One Europe/Oceania play-off qualifier: Europe could gain a second qualifying place, while Oceania could gain a third qualifying place, as the second best Rugby Europe Championship will play a home and away playoff series against the third place team from the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, to gain qualification for Rugby World Cup 2019. The loser of that series could give Europe one repechage berth or Oceania one repechage berth (or two repechage berths).
3 Asia/Oceania play-off for repechage place: The highest-ranked Asian Rugby Championship team, excluding Japan, will play a home and away playoff series against the Oceania Cup winner, to gain a berth in the repechage tournament. Asia could gain one repechage berth, while Oceania could gain one repechage berth (or two repechage berths).
Repechage qualification
Following the end of each regional qualification process, four teams will take part in the Repechage process for the final spot at the Rugby World Cup. Unlike previous Repechages, the four teams will play in a Round-robin tournament, where all teams will play each other once, rather than a semi-final, final format.
References
- ^ Regional qualification process set for Rugby World Cup 2019
- ^ worldrugby.org. "Jamaica kick off RWC 2019 qualification in style". www.worldrugby.org. Retrieved 2016-03-06.