2003 Rugby World Cup – European qualification

There were a number of positions open to European nations to qualify for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Ireland, Romania, Georgia and Italy, joining a number of other nations that automatically qualified.

Round 1 – 2000–2001

Three Pool Winners and top Runner-Up advanced to Round 2.

Pool A

Winner (Sweden) and Runner-Up (Latvia) advanced to Round 2.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Sweden |5||5||0||0||+208||15 |- bgcolor="E0FFE0" |Latvia |5||4||0||1||+79||13 |- |Austria |5||3||0||2||+78||11 |- |Israel |5||2||0||3||+51||9 |- |Luxembourg |5||1||0||4||−222||7 |- |Norway |5||0||0||5||−194||5 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
23-Sep-2000	Norway – Luxembourg	Stavanger, Norway	9–41
21-Oct-2000	Austria – Sweden	Vienna, Austria	10–42
28-Oct-2000	Latvia – Luxembourg	Riga, Latvia	24–19
28-Oct-2000	Sweden – Norway	Korsangens, Sweden	44–3
11-Nov-2000	Latvia – Austria	Riga, Latvia	38–12
3-Mar-2001	Luxembourg – Israel	Luxembourg	3–62
17-Mar-2001	Israel – Latvia	Israel	3–21
5-May-2001	Israel – Norway	Israel	43–3
5-May-2001	Luxembourg – Sweden	Cessange, Luxembourg	3–116
12-May-2001	Austria – Luxembourg	Vienna, Austria	77–0
19-May-2001	Latvia – Norway	Riga, Latvia	37–0
19-May-2001	Sweden – Israel	Växjö, Sweden	35–20
2-Jun-2001	Austria – Israel	Vienna, Austria	21–6
9-Jun-2001	Norway – Austria	Borrebanen, Norway	7–51
9-Jun-2001	Sweden – Latvia	Korsangens, Sweden	17–10

Pool B

Winner (Switzerland) advanced to Round 2.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Switzerland |5||4||0||1||+166||13 |- |Yugoslavia |5||3||0||2||+45||11 |- |Andorra |5||3||0||2||+43||11 |- |Hungary |5||2||0||3||−9||9 |- |Bosnia and Herzegovina |5||2||0||3||−58||9 |- |Bulgaria |5||1||0||4||−187||7 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
30-Sep-2000	Bosnia and Herzegovina – Hungary	Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina	13–12
07-Oct-2000	Switzerland – Bosnia and Herzegovina	Geneva, Switzerland	43–6
14-Oct-2000	Bulgaria – Switzerland	Pernik, Bulgaria	9–90
14-Oct-2000	Andorra – Yugoslavia	Andorra la Vella, Andorra	12–9
28-Oct-2000	Hungary – Andorra	Százhalombatta, Hungary	27–21
5-Nov-2000	Yugoslavia – Bulgaria	Dimitrovgrad, Yugoslavia	46–6
31-Mar-2001	Yugoslavia – Hungary	Dimitrovgrad, Yugoslavia	25–10
05-May-2001	Switzerland – Andorra	Lausanne, Switzerland	38–25
05-May-2001	Bulgaria – Bosnia and Herzegovina	?	30–8
12-May-2001	Andorra – Bulgaria	Andorra la Vella, Andorra	59–10
12-May-2001	Switzerland – Hungary	Basel, Switzerland	61–23
12-May-2001	Bosnia and Herzegovina – Yugoslavia	?	23–13
25-May-2001	Yugoslavia – Switzerland	Gornji, Yugoslavia	13–10
25-May-2001	Andorra – Bosnia and Herzegovina	Andorra la Vella, Andorra	23–13
25-May-2001	Hungary – Bulgaria	?	46–7

Pool C

Winner (Belgium) advanced to Round 2.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Belgium |5||5||0||0||+71||15 |- |Slovenia |5||3||1||1||+46||12 |- |Moldova |5||3||0||2||+25||11 |- |Lithuania |5||2||1||2||+38||10 |- |Monaco |5||1||0||4||−30||7 |- |Malta |5||0||0||5||−150||5 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
28-Oct-2000	Monaco – Moldova	Menton, France	15–17
28-Oct-2000	Belgium – Slovenia	Heysel, Belgium	24–10
18-Nov-2000	Slovenia – Lithuania	Ljubljana, Slovenia	19–19
18-Nov-2000	Moldova – Malta	Bender, Moldova	58–8
25-Nov-2000	Malta – Belgium	Three Cities, Malta	0–26
2-Dec-2000	Monaco – Slovenia	Menton, France	8–13
20-Jan-2001	Malta – Monaco	Three Cities, Malta	3–9
3-Mar-2001	Monaco – Belgium	Saint-Laurent-du-Var, France	12–18
7-Apr-2001	Belgium – Moldova	Brussels, Belgium	26–10
21-Apr −2001	Malta – Lithuania	Three Cities, Malta	11–39
28-Apr −2001	Slovenia – Moldova	Ljubljana, Slovenia	30–15
5-May-2001	Belgium – Lithuania	Laakdal, Belgium	29–20
12-May-2001	Slovenia – Malta	Ljubljana, Slovenia	45–5
12-May-2001	Lithuania – Monaco	Vilnius, Lithuania	33–10
2-Jun-2001	Moldova – Lithuania	Chişinău, Moldova	20–16

Round 2 – 2001–2002

Pool Winners advanced to Round 3.

Pool A

Winner (Poland)advanced to Round 3.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Poland |4||4||0||0||+69||12 |- |Germany |4||2||0||2||+24||8 |- |Sweden |4||2||0||2||+23||8 |- |Denmark |4||2||0||2||+19||8 |- |Latvia |4||0||0||4||−135||4 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
22-Sep-2001	Latvia – Poland	Riga, Latvia	18–60
29-Sep −2001	Poland – Sweden	Gdańsk, Poland	18–6
7-Oct-2001	Sweden – Latvia	Trelleborg, Sweden	37–12
20-Oct −2001	Sweden – Germany	Malmö, Sweden	32–10
27-Oct-2001	Denmark – Sweden	Frederiksberg, Denmark	33–21
3-Nov −2001	Denmark – Poland	Copenhagen, Denmark	19–26
10-Nov-2001	Germany – Denmark	Heidelberg, Germany	34–24
24-Nov-2001	Germany – Latvia	Hanover, Germany	44–0
6-April-2002	Poland – Germany	Gdynia, Poland	20–12
6-April −2002	Latvia – Denmark	Riga, Latvia	8–32

Pool B

Winner (Czech Republic) advanced to Round 3.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Czech Republic |4||4||0||0||+95||12 |- |Ukraine |4||3||0||1||+46||10 |- |Croatia |4||2||0||2||−14||8 |- |Switzerland |4||1||0||3||−40||6 |- |Belgium |4||0||0||4||−87||4 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
22-Sep-2001	Czech Republic – Belgium	Prague, Czech Republic	46–3
6-Oct-2001	Switzerland – Czech Republic	Lausanne, Switzerland	6–32
13-Oct −2001	Croatia – Czech Republic	Makarska, Croatia	5–13
13-Oct −2001	Ukraine – Belgium	Kyiv, Ukraine	21–10
20-Oct −2001	Ukraine – Croatia	Kyiv, Ukraine	41–7
27-Oct −2001	Belgium – Switzerland	Brussels, Belgium	15–22
3-Nov-2001	Czech Republic – Ukraine	Prague, Czech Republic	26–8
10-Nov −2001	Croatia – Switzerland	Makarska, Croatia	18–16
24-Nov −2001	Belgium – Croatia	Brussels, Belgium	0–26
24-Nov −2001	Switzerland – Ukraine	Hermance, Switzerland	11–30

Round 3 – May–June, 2002

Pool Winners advanced to Round 4.

Pool A

Winner (Spain) advanced to Round 4.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Spain |2||1||0||1||+1||4 |- |Portugal |2||1||0||1||0||4 |- |Poland |2||1||0||1||−1||4 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
04-May-2002	Poland – Spain	Warsaw (Poland)	27–15
18-May-2002	Portugal – Poland	Jamor (Portugal)	39–26
2-June-2002	Spain – Portugal	Madrid (Spain)	34–21

Pool B

Winner (Russia) advanced to Round 4.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Russia |2||2||0||0||+81||6 |- |Czech Republic |2||1||0||1||+23||4 |- |Netherlands |2||0||0||2||−104||2 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
05-May-2002	Czech Republic – Russia	Prague (Czech Republic)	18–37
21-May-2002	Netherlands – Czech Republic	Amsterdam (Netherlands)	12–54
1-June-2002	Russia – Netherlands	Monino (Russia)	65–3

Round 4 – September–October, 2002

Pool Winners and Runners-Up qualified to 2003 Rugby World Cup. 3rd-Place advanced to Round 5.

Pool A

Italy qualified as Europe 2 to Pool D, Romania as Europe 3 to Pool A. Spain advanced to Round 5.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Italy |2||2||0||0||+55||6 |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Romania |2||1||0||1||+53||4 |- bgcolor="E0FFE0" |Spain |2||0||0||2||−108||2 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
22-Sep-2002	Spain – Italy	Valladolid (Spain)	3–50
28-Sep-2002	Italy – Romania	Parma (Italy)	25–17
05-Oct-2002	Romania – Spain	Iaşi (Romania)	67–6

Pool B

Ireland qualified as Europe 1 to Pool D, Georgia as Europe 4 to Pool C. Russia advanced to Round 5.

Final Standings

Template:RugbyTableStart |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Ireland |2||2||0||0||+81||6 |- bgcolor="C0FFC0" |Georgia |2||1||0||1||−45||4 |- bgcolor="E0FFE0" |Russia |2||0||0||2||−36||2 |}

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
21-Sep-2002	Russia – Ireland	Krasnoyarsk (Russia)	3–35
28-Sep-2002	Ireland – Georgia	Dublin (Ireland)	63–14
13-Oct-2002	Georgia – Russia	Tbilisi (Georgia)	17–13

Round 5 – October–November, 2002

Spain advanced to Repechage as Europe 5 to play Africa 2.

Match Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Result
27-October-2002	Spain – Russia	Madrid, Spain	3–36
24-November-2002	Russia – Spain	Krasnodar, Russia	22–38

Russia won 58–41 on aggregate. However, after it was determined they used ineligible South African players, they were ejected from the competition and Spain advanced to Repechage.