Scotland at the Rugby World Cup

This article is about rugby union. For Scotland in the Rugby League World Cup, see Scotland national rugby league team § Rugby League World Cup.

Scotland vs Italy at St Etienne, 2007 World Cup

Map of nations best results, excluding nations which unsuccessfully participated in qualifying tournaments.

Scotland have played in every Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987.

Their best finish was fourth in 1991. In their semi-final on October 26, 1991, Scotland lost 6–9 to England at Murrayfield after Gavin Hastings missed a penalty almost in front of and a short distance from the posts. On October 30 Scotland lost the third-place play-off to New Zealand in Cardiff 13–6.

Since then they have qualified for the quarter-finals in every tournament except in 2011, but have not qualified for the semi-finals.

Comprehensive team results

Scottish fans at the 2007 game against Romania

Legend

• W - Champions
• F - Runners Up
• SF - Third place
• SF - Fourth place
• QF - Quarterfinals
• R2 - Second Round
• R1 - First Round
• q - Qualified for forthcoming tournament

For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of qualified teams in each tournament (in parentheses) are shown.

Team	1987	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015
		EnglandWalesScotlandIrelandFrance		WalesScotlandIrelandEnglandFrance
	16	16	16	20	20	20	20	20
Scotland	6th	4th	6th	6th	8th	8th	9th	8th

Year	Stage	Team	Score	Team	Venue
1987	Pool 4	France	20–20	Scotland	Lancaster Park
		Scotland	60–21	Zimbabwe	Athletic Park
		Romania	28–55	Scotland	Carisbrook
	Quarter-final	New Zealand	30–3	Scotland	Lancaster Park
1991	Pool B	Scotland	47–9	Japan	Murrayfield
		Scotland	51–12	Zimbabwe	Murrayfield
		Scotland	24–15	Ireland	Murrayfield
	Quarter-final	Scotland	28–6	Western Samoa	Murrayfield
	Semi-final	Scotland	6–9	England	Murrayfield
	Third-place play-off	Scotland	6–13	New Zealand	Cardiff
1995	Pool D	Ivory Coast	0–89	Scotland	Rustenburg
		Scotland	41–5	Tonga	Pretoria
		France	22–19	Scotland	Pretoria
	Quarter-final	New Zealand	48–30	Scotland	Pretoria
1999	Pool 1	Scotland	29–46	South Africa	Murrayfield
		Scotland	43–12	Uruguay	Murrayfield
		Scotland	48–0	Spain	Murrayfield
	Quarter-final play-off	Scotland	35–20	Samoa	Murrayfield
	Quarter-final	Scotland	18–30	New Zealand	Murrayfield
2003	Pool B	Scotland	32–11	Japan	Townsville
		Scotland	39–15	United States	Brisbane
		France	51–9	Scotland	Sydney
		Scotland	22–20	Fiji	Aussie Stadium
	Quarter-final	Australia	33–16	Scotland	Brisbane
2007	Pool C	Scotland	56–10	Portugal	Saint-Étienne
		Scotland	42–0	Romania	Murrayfield
		Scotland	0–40	New Zealand	Murrayfield
		Scotland	18–16	Italy	Saint-Étienne
	Quarter-final	Argentina	19–13	Scotland	Stade de France
2011	Pool B	Scotland	34–24	Romania	Invercargill
		Scotland	15–6	Georgia	Invercargill
		Argentina	13–12	Scotland	Wellington
		England	16–12	Scotland	Auckland
2015	Pool B	Scotland	45–10	Japan	Kingsholm, Gloucester
		Scotland	39–16	United States	Elland Road, Leeds
		South Africa	34–16	Scotland	St James' Park, Newcastle
		Samoa	33–36	Scotland	St James' Park, Newcastle
	Quarter-final	Australia	35–34	Scotland	Twickenham

Individual

Gavin Hastings is by far the most successful Scottish world cup player, and has gained a number of records.

Points

Most overall points in final stages

Points	Name	Country	App.	Tries	Con.	Pen.	Drop.	Tournament
227	Gavin Hastings (second position)	Scotland	13	9	39	36	–	1987, 1991, 1995

Key: App = Appearances. Con = conversions. Pen = penalties. Drop = drop goals.

Conversions

Most overall conversions in final stages

• Gavin Hastings 39 (1987–1995)

Penalty goals

Most penalties in a match

• Gavin Hastings 8 (v Tonga, 1995)

Overall record

Against	Played	Win	Draw	Lost	Win %
Australia	2	0	0	2
Argentina	2	0	0	2
England	2	0	0	2
Fiji	1	1	0	0
France	3	0	1	2
Georgia	1	1	0	0	100%
Ireland	1	1	0	0
Italy	1	1	0	0	100%
Ivory Coast	1	1	0	0	100%
Japan	3	3	0	0	100%
New Zealand	5	0	0	5
Portugal	1	1	0	0	100%
Romania	3	3	0	0	100%
Russia	1	1	0	0	100%
Samoa	3	3	0	0	100%
Spain	1	1	0	0	100%
South Africa	2	0	0	2
Tonga	1	1	0	0	100%
United States	2	2	0	0	100%
Uruguay	1	1	0	0
Zimbabwe	2	2	0	0
Overall

Miscellaneous

Draws

• France 20–20 Scotland (1987)

Nil points

• Scotland 89–0 Ivory Coast (1995)
• Scotland 48–0 Spain (1999)
• Scotland 42–0 Romania (2007)
• Scotland 0–40 New Zealand (2007)

Hosting

See also: Rugby World Cup hosts

Scotland has never been the main host of the World Cup, but a number of Rugby World Cup games have been played in Scotland over the years. When World Cups have been in the Northern Hemisphere, Scotland has hosted games. All northern hemisphere tournaments have been in Europe so far.

1991 World Cup: Britain/Ireland/France

The 1991 Rugby World Cup final was played in England, pool and finals games were played all over the main five European nations. Pool B games, which involved European nations, Scotland and Ireland, had all their games in either Dublin or Edinburgh with one game being played in Ulster.

1999 World Cup: Wales

The 1999 World Cup was hosted by Wales with some games spread across Scotland, England, Ireland and France. All Pool A games were held in Scotland. Second round play-offs and the quarter-finals were held at a variety of European venues.

2007 World Cup: France

The 2007 competition was held in France, with some games played in Wales and Scotland. Two Pool C matches were held at Edinburgh's Murrayfield.

2015 World Cup: England

See also: 2015 Rugby World Cup

The host for the 2015 tournament was England, with no games played in Scotland.

References

• Davies, Gerald (2004) The History of the Rugby World Cup (Sanctuary Publishing Ltd, (ISBN 1860746020)
• Farr-Jones, Nick, (2003). Story of the Rugby World Cup, Australian Post Corporation, (ISBN 0-642-36811-2)