Teams

Rugby World Cup Teams 2011

There will be 20 teams at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand with a nice mix of rugby powerhouses and up and coming nations who are looking to use the tournament as a learning experience. Any team that finished in the top three of their group at the 2007 World Cup qualified automatically for the tournament while the other eight have all had to go through the qualification process over the past couple of years.

There will only be one team making their World Cup debut in 2011 and that will be the improving Russian side, they are making strides in the game and are delighted to have qualified. All of the teams are divided into four Rugby World Cup Groups with the top two then moving forward to the knock-out stages, each pool is mixed with strong teams and weak teams with the idea that the top eight seeds will all make it through to the last eight.

New Zealand are of course the host nation and the All blacks are the hot favourites in the Rugby World Cup Odds to lift the trophy on October 23rd, they have been in great form as always over the past 18 months and will go into the tournament expecting to lift the trophy. They will face a tough task though with a number of teams coming into form, England are slowly improving and have a great record in recent World Cups while Australia and South Africa as we know can never be ruled out.

Qualified Rugby World Cup Teams