The 5 Countries Who Booked their Places at RWC 2019 This Year

With the year 2018 coming to a close World Rugby has released a video looking back at who qualified to compete at the tournament in Japan. In all there were 5 countries who booked their places at RWC 2019 this year.

2018 got underway with a bang. Canada hosted Uruguay in Vancouver in January. In a match which Canadians are yet to recover from Los Teros tore-up the script to complete a 38-29 win on the road. Seven days later the job was completed in Montevideo with Uruguay winning 32-31 to qualify for RWC 2019 as Americas 2.

Russia qualified for Japan 2019 as Europe 1. In doing so they were confirmed in the same pool as the host nation and will play against Japan in the tournament’s opening fixture. Not covered in the video is how Russia qualified for RWC 2019. The Russian Bears were added after World Rugby disqualified Romania, and Spain from RWC 2019 qualifying. This occurred after Romania had qualified and had been officially confirmed for the tournament.

Russia were one of two benefactors from Romania and Spain’s expulsion. The other was Samoa. The Pacific Islanders have been giant killers in past RWCs but presently they are well-and-truly a Tier 2 country. Their home-and-away qualifying series vs Europe 2 turned out to be not against Spain but, rather, Germany. Samoa was given a fright but ultimately did qualify after winning 66-15 in Apia and 42-28 in Heidelberg.

Namibia qualified as Africa 1. The Welwitschias route to RWC 2019 was the easiest of all qualifying teams. Only facing Tier 3 opponents, Namibia defeated Uganda 55-6, Tunisia 118-0, Morocco 63-7, Zimbabwe 58-28, and Kenya 53-28.

Kenya were Africa 2 which saw the Simbas joining Canada, Germany, and Hong Kong in repechage. Hong Kong booked their spot by defeating the Cook Islands 26-3 in Rarotonga and 51-0 in Hong Kong. They did so after World Rugby had earlier disqualified Tahiti from RWC qualifiers, a decision which nobody could have envisioned would impact Belgium, Romania, Russia, and Spain so greatly.

November’s Repechage Finals tournament was played in Marseille, France. All four countries faced the other three. Canada went undefeated in beating Kenya 65-19, Germany 29-10, and Hong Kong 27-10. Germany finished second overall with two wins, defeating Hong Kong 26-9 and Kenya 43-6.

The 5 countries who booked their places at RWC 2019 this year are shown in the following video.