Misplaced Pages

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75-614: Before the law amendments the Laws of Rugby Union book from the International Rugby Board stretched to 190 pages, much of them covering the contest for possession and continuity of play, which are key features of the union code and are developed more extensively than in other forms of football. The contest for possession in or after a tackle is complex and so are the laws governing it. Rugby League and American Football overcome this by abolishing any contest — play stops after

150-407: A ball carrier by the pads behind his neck and pulling him down is known as a "horse collar", a method which has been made illegal at all levels of American football. It is also illegal to tackle a player who has thrown a forward pass (generally a quarterback) after he has released the ball; doing so is called "roughing the passer" and incurs a 15-yard penalty and a fresh set of downs for the team with

225-543: A certain type of open rugby is under question, given that the Rugby World Cup 2007 broke all viewing figures for the sport. The semi-finals and final were the most watched rugby matches on record, indicating that many viewers are attracted to the nature and tension of the game as played under current laws. The dour games some saw could also be interpreted as a nail biting, passionate contest with both sides engaging in courageous, hard-hitting defence. The resistance to

300-406: A defensive player tackle an offensive player by grabbing the facemask of their helmet ; doing so incurs a 15-yard penalty and the victimized team is awarded a new set of downs. Although spear tackles are allowed in gridiron football, a player may not use his helmet to tackle an opponent as the technique can cause serious injury to both players (more often the tackler, due to the force of reaction on

375-437: A foul tackle endangers the tackled player's safety, it is likely to be considered as "serious foul play" by the referee and punished with a red card (dismissal). Tackles that involve lunging at an opponent with both legs, regardless of whether the ball is won, are generally considered to constitute serious foul play and hence result in a sending-off. This explicitly includes "scissoring" (tackling with legs apart, so as to trap

450-472: A fundamental claim of Rugby Union, that it is a game for "all shapes and all sizes". The law allowing collapsing of a maul has become a major worry at community level because of the dangers it may cause inexperienced players. Irish Coach Declan Kidney has observed that disallowing mauls at the breakdown means defences stay spread out, meaning less space for attackers, making it more difficult for an attacking side to advance, resulting in more kicking. In this case

525-415: A match to spare. This also illustrates the fact that the pool tables do not tell the whole story. From this stage onwards, the tournament adopted a knockout format comprising eight fixtures: four quarter-finals, two semi-finals, a bronze medal match , and the final. The winner and runner-up from each of the four pools advanced to the quarter-finals. Pool winners were drawn against opposite pool runners-up in

600-410: A player is allowed. Smothering , which involves using the arms or body to get in the way of an opponent's kick as it leaves their boot, is similar to a charge down in rugby football. Gaelic football defines tackling as wresting the ball from an opponent's hands. Bumping is allowed on the player with the ball, but a player cannot be grabbed. In American football and Canadian football , to tackle

675-468: A single 10-minute period of " sudden death ". If the contest was unresolved after a total 110 minutes of open play, the winner would be determined by a placekicking competition. In a change from the format of the previous tournament , the top three teams in each pool would qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand; previously, only the eight quarter-finalists gained an automatic place in

750-495: A successful tackle and there is no subsequent contest for possession until the next play. In rugby union the ongoing contest for the ball at the "breakdown" is one of the most important and integral aspects of the game, something that makes it unique in the world of football. The problems observed with the previous laws mostly revolve around one fact; that in practice the contest for the ball was often halted through law infringements. Different referees used different interpretations of

825-435: Is also a professional foul is considered misconduct. The most spectacular form of tackle in association football is the slide tackle , wherein a tackler slides, leg extended, along the ground, aiming to hit the ball away. This form of tackle carries a high risk of committing a foul. " Diving " in association football involves tackled players exaggerating the physicality of tackles, so as to gain favourable decisions from

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900-406: Is assessed a 15-yard penalty. Blocks that occur in the back of the legs and below the knees , initiated below the waist , or clotheslines are also generally prohibited and players who use them are subject to much more severe penalties than other illegal tackles. However, a player who plays on the line can block below the knees ( cut block ) as long the block is within five yards of the line and

975-403: Is known as a quarterback sack when the quarterback is tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage while attempting to throw a pass. A tackle for loss is a tackle that causes a loss of yardage for the opposing running back or wide receiver. This happens when the quarterback is sacked, when either a rusher or a receiver is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, or when the ball is fumbled behind

1050-425: Is to physically interfere with the forward progress of a player in possession of the ball, such that his forward progress ceases and is not resumed, or such that he is caused to touch some part of his body to the ground other than his feet or hands, or such that he is forced to go out of bounds. In any such case, the ball becomes dead , the down is over, and play ceases until the beginning of the next play . A tackle

1125-404: Is used in some contact variations of football to describe the act of physically holding or wrestling a player to the ground. In others, it simply describes one or more methods of contesting for possession of the ball. It can therefore be used as both a defensive or attacking move. In Middle Dutch , the verb tacken meant to grab or to handle. By the 14th century, this had come to be used for

1200-448: The 2008 International Rules Series . In rugby league the ball-carrier can be tackled by any number of defenders from any direction. The initial contact in the tackle must be made below the ball carrier's neck or it will be deemed a high tackle and penalised. A tackle in rugby league is completed when any of the following occurs: Once the tackle is completed, the ball-carrier must be allowed to get to his feet to ' play-the-ball ' and

1275-1247: The Stade de France and Irishman Alain Rolland refereed the final. The competition was contested over 44 days between 20 different nations, over 48 fixtures. The tournament began on 7 September at the Stade de France with a match between the host nation, France, and Argentina. The tournament culminated at the same venue on 20 October for the final between England and South Africa. [REDACTED]   England [REDACTED]   Samoa [REDACTED]   South Africa [REDACTED]   Tonga [REDACTED]   United States [REDACTED]   Australia [REDACTED]   Canada [REDACTED]   Fiji [REDACTED]   Japan [REDACTED]   Wales [REDACTED]   Italy [REDACTED]   New Zealand [REDACTED]   Portugal [REDACTED]   Romania [REDACTED]   Scotland [REDACTED]   Argentina [REDACTED]   France [REDACTED]   Georgia [REDACTED]   Ireland [REDACTED]   Namibia Classification within each pool

1350-579: The Tri Nations in 2008 as well but Syd Millar has said the results in the Super 14, which is "near enough international level", need to be studied before use in matches between nations can be sanctioned. On 1 May 2008 the IRB announced that its Council had approved a global trial of Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) for a period of 12 months, starting on 1 August 2008. The trial, which applied at all levels of

1425-642: The Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003, beating a bid from England. The competition consisted of 48 matches over 44 days; 42 matches were played in 10 cities throughout France, as well as four in Cardiff , Wales, and two in Edinburgh , Scotland. The eight quarter-finalists from 2003 were granted automatic qualification, while 12 other nations gained entry through

1500-590: The final , played between England and South Africa on 20 October, which South Africa won 15–6 to win their second World Cup title. Both England and France bid to host the tournament. The tender document for the 2007 bidding process was due out on 31 October 2001. Both England and France were invited to re-submit their plans. The International Rugby Board (IRB) stated that both countries must comply with tender document terms in one bid, but in their second option, could propose alternative ideas. The IRB said "England's original proposal contained three plans for hosting

1575-715: The 2007 tournament was the first to be hosted primarily by France, a number of matches during the 1991 and 1999 tournaments were played in France. In 1991, matches in Pool D (which included France) were played in Béziers , Bayonne , Grenoble , Toulouse , Brive and Agen , while Parc des Princes and Stadium Lille-Metropole each hosted a quarter-final. Similarly, in 1999, fixtures in Pool C (which included France) were played in Béziers, Bordeaux and Toulouse, Stade Félix-Bollaert

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1650-646: The Division I FBS record for most tackles in a career. International rules football is a hybrid game between Australian rules football and Gaelic football . Tackling in International Rules is subject to similar rules as Australian rules football, but with some subtle differences. Tackling is only allowed as low as the waist, whereas it is allowed down to the knees in Aussie Rules. One handed tackling has been banned in International Rules since

1725-474: The ELVs, rather than encouraging attacking play have produced the opposite effect. The following ELVs were implemented into Law in 2009: Tackle (football move) Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle . The primary purposes of tackling are to dispossess an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend. The word

1800-486: The Game, involved 13 of the 23 ELVs that had been undergoing experimentation in approved tournaments around the world in the preceding two years. Most of the variations were the same as those trialled in the 2008 Super 14 and 2008 Tri Nations competitions. The significant differences were that the global trial did not include the experimental law which substitutes a free kick instead of a penalty for many offences, but did include

1875-534: The IRB Referee Manager Paddy O'Brien .. The Laws Project Group was dissolved in April 2009 after selected ELV's were incorporated into the Laws of Rugby. The proposed law amendments were: After the initial trials at Stellenbosch University, the laws were enacted in the following competitions; The South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby unions requested that the laws be introduced to

1950-473: The Stellenbosch Laws will be to the detriment of the game. The reduction of breaks in the game, faster paced play and the tendency to mix backs and forwards requires the players to be fitter and more athletic. This may produce the desired effect for television viewers watching the elite players, but the requirements may make rugby virtually unplayable for participants at the amateur level, undermining

2025-533: The ball carrier to knock them to the ground. Tackles can also be made by grabbing the ball carrier's jersey (or even hair, should it be long enough and allowed to dangle freely from beneath the helmet) and pulling him to the ground. As mentioned above, the referee can declare that a play is dead if the ball carrier's forward progress has been stopped, even if he has not actually been taken to the ground. To protect players from potentially catastrophic injury, there are some restrictions on tackles and blocks. At no time may

2100-434: The ball may also be penalised. Illegal tackles are fouls and are punished with a direct free kick (or penalty if committed within the penalty area) for the opponent's team. Such incidents are common, with dozens of occurrences in a typical match. In most cases these fouls are not considered misconducts , however yellow cards (cautions) may be delivered for more egregious fouls that constitute " unsporting behaviour ". If

2175-419: The ball rather than the player in possession of it. This is achieved by using either leg to wrest possession from the opponent, or sliding in on the grass to knock the ball away. A defender is permitted to use their body to obstruct the motion of a player with the ball, and this may be part of a successful tackle. Pulling a player to the ground in the style of tackle common to other codes is completely absent from

2250-484: The ball. However, in the NFL a player can continue forward for one step, which means that often a player who is committed to attacking the quarterback will still make a tackle. Place kickers and punters are afforded an even greater protection from being tackled. Once the play is ruled complete, no contact is permitted; a player who makes contact with an opponent after the play is charged with "unnecessary roughness" and his team

2325-488: The changes would benefit teams with weaker scrums and ineffective set piece play, but this has been rebuffed somewhat with the application of the experimental laws by leagues in the Southern Hemisphere. It has been revealed that a strong scrum is still strong no matter whether it is set once or many times and can still be used as an attacking weapon. Bryan Habana was the first high-profile player to criticise

Experimental law variations - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-414: The complex laws, and many games are decided by penalty goals awarded by referees for infringements that were not immediately obvious to observers or even the players. The Stellenbosch ELVs were based on proposals made in the mid 2000s, and came to wider prominence following the 2007 Rugby World Cup . Outgoing IRB president Syd Millar explained that in his opinion amendments were needed because delays in

2475-446: The defensive team must retreat 10 metres (except 2 markers, facing the tackled player). Spear tackles are illegal in rugby league, with most tackles in which the defender is lifted 'above the horizontal' bringing about penalties in the modern game. A stiff arm tackle is an offence. A 2012 New Zealand study found that over 659 tackles are made per game in professional rugby league. Of all the rugby league positions , second-row averages

2550-455: The equipment used for fishing, referring to the rod and reel, etc., and also for that used in sailing, referring to rigging, equipment, or gear used on ships. By the 18th century, a similar use was applied to harnesses or equipment used with horses. Modern use in football comes from the earlier sport of rugby, where the word was used in the 19th century. Unlike other codes, tackles in association football have to be predominantly directed against

2625-423: The experimental laws relating to numbers in the lineout and collapsing the maul. Use of the ELVs in the 2007 Australian Rugby Championship was deemed an overall success. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation which broadcasts most of the games said general reactions by coaches, players, and fans was overwhelmingly positive, with these specific details reported: The need for rule changes to satisfy those who prefer

2700-613: The first place in its qualifying group; Romania defeated Spain 43–20 in Madrid , and also qualified for the World Cup as Europe 2. Namibia qualified for their third consecutive World Cup after they earned their spot in France by defeating Morocco over two legs in November. In late 2006, it was announced that the IRB had withdrawn Colombo as the venue of the final Asian qualifying tournament due to security problems. Japan won

2775-537: The first ten hours of release. The remaining tickets – individual tickets and tickets to the semi-finals – were released in phase three in November 2006. In June 2007, it was announced that 2 million of the 2.4 million tickets had been sold in advance of the tournament. The Worldwide partners for the tournament were Société Générale , GMF , Électricité de France , Peugeot , Visa and SNCF , and official sponsors include Heineken , Vediorbis, Capgemini , Orange , Toshiba and Emirates . Gilbert provided

2850-460: The following criteria would have been used in the following order until one of the Teams could be determined as the higher ranked: By elevating head-to-head results (rule i) above points difference (rule ii), a notable difference is created to other sports competitions, in which points difference usually determines rank for teams with the same number of match points (table points). These rules allowed

2925-701: The following year, Argentina qualified as Americas 1 by defeating Uruguay 26–0 in Buenos Aires . Americas 2 was filled in August when Canada defeated the United States 56–7 in Newfoundland . The United States went on to qualify as Americas 3 after beating Uruguay in a two-legged tie in early October. That month also saw Italy qualify as Europe 1 after defeating Russia 67–7 in Moscow, reaching

3000-472: The game (this would be considered "violent conduct" and result in a red card (dismissal)). Although some contact between players is allowed, the rules of association football significantly limit the physicality of tackles, explicitly forbidding contacts which are "careless, reckless or [use] excessive force". Almost all tackles where the tackler's legs make contact with the opponent before the ball are considered illegal, and heavy contact after initially touching

3075-412: The increasing popularity of football in the late 19th century, tackling had been integrated into field-based chasing games such as British Bulldog (game) , Pom-Pom-Pull-Away and British Bulldog . For younger boys, these children's games became essential for the acquisition of football skills. Some illegal tackle moves result in a penalty play, however others may be "reportable" offences — that is,

Experimental law variations - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-681: The laws, stating that they were turning the game into rugby league by eliminating most of the breaks in play. There has also been criticism from many coaches, players and fans in the northern hemisphere. Sean Fitzpatrick , (former All Black hooker and most capped All Black of all time), Shaun Edwards (coach London Wasps/Wales), Warren Gatland (former All Black and coach Wales), Jason Leonard (most capped prop in history), Martin Johnson (2003 World Cup Winning captain and ex-England Coach), Brian Moore , Paul Ackford and Josh Kronfeld (All Black), amongst others have and continue to raise concerns that

3225-424: The line of scrimmage and was picked up by an offensive player who does not manage to move past the line before being tackled. When a player who does not have the ball is taken down, it is generally referred to as a block. Tacklers are not required to wrap their arms around the ball carrier before bringing him to the ground; in fact, the ball carrier is often "tackled" by the defender taking a running start and hitting

3300-442: The most tackles. In rugby union , a player must be brought to ground for a tackle to be completed. The tackled player must release the ball, but the ball is not dead and a ruck forms to contest possession of it. If the ball carrier is not brought to the ground a maul will usually form. High/reckless or stiff arm tackles laws once dictated any contact made above the shoulders was an offence. Now, even if contact starts below

3375-445: The only Asian allocation after the tournament was moved to Hong Kong. Georgia was 14 points the better of Portugal over two legs to claim the last European place. Tonga qualified through repechage after defeating Korea . The final spot went to Portugal , joining Pool C after beating Uruguay 24–23 on aggregate. Portugal's qualification was the only change in the 20-team roster from the 2003 World Cup, replacing Uruguay, becoming

3450-525: The only wholly amateur team to qualify. France won the right to host the 2007 World Cup in 2003, Then it was announced that 6 games would be held abroad, at the request of their neighbouring countries. Four matches would be held in Wales, at Cardiff 's 74,500-seat Millennium Stadium : two Pool B games involving Wales , the match between Fiji and Canada and a quarter-final. Ireland was to have hosted matches at Lansdowne Road , Dublin, but opted out because

3525-506: The opponent's leg or legs in between), which is likely to be punished with a sending-off (red card), as it poses a high risk of severe knee injury to the player being tackled. Tackling with studs up is considered dangerous. A studs up tackle is made when a player lunges into a tackle with a leg or both legs outstretched exposing the soles of their boots. Referees are encouraged to at the very least caution (yellow card) players who commit such challenges. Additionally, an illegal tackle which

3600-455: The opportunity to showcase the regions of France where the wonderful sport of rugby is deeply rooted". French Sports Minister Jean-François Lamour said that "The organisation of this World Cup will shine over all of France because ten French towns have the privilege of organising matches and to be in the world's spotlight." French cities to host games were Bordeaux, Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, St. Etienne, Toulouse and Paris, and it

3675-498: The option exists for an official to penalise a player's conduct individually rather than during the game refer it to a tribunal for deferred penalty. Rugby World Cup 2007 The 2007 Rugby World Cup ( French : Coupe du monde de rugby 2007 ) was the sixth Rugby World Cup , a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board . Twenty nations competed for

3750-428: The player by the tackler, or the player unsuccessfully attempts a kick or handball, a free kick will only be awarded if the ball carrier is deemed to have had a prior opportunity to dispose of the ball prior to being tackled. If a player has not had prior opportunity to dispose of the ball and a tackler knocks the ball free during a tackle then no free kick is paid and the game continues. A tackle must only contact below

3825-480: The player they block is in front of them and not engaged by another blocker ( chop block ). In the National Football League (NFL), tackles are tracked as an unofficial statistic by a scorekeeper hired by the home team. Though the statistic is widely cited, the league does not verify that the counts are accurate. On November 12, 2022, Carlton Martial of Troy recorded his 546th tackle to break

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3900-731: The players. The amendments concentrate on rucks and mauls , but include other aspects which help keep the ball in play and reduce stoppages for infringements and penalties. The Experimental Law Variations (ELV's) were devised on behalf of the IRB by The Laws Project Group (LPG), which was set up by the IRB's Rugby Committee in 2006 and comprises: Chairman and IRB Council member Bill Nolan; IRB Development Manager Bruce Cook; former World Cup winning Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen ; former Springbok coach Ian McIntosh ; former Scottish coach Richie Dixon ; former French player, coach and former IRB Regional Development Manager Pierre Villepreux ; former All Black captain and Wellington coach Graham Mourie and

3975-421: The pool stage. In the knockout stage the 12 referees also acted as touch judges, with referee appointments being based on performance from previous matches and selection for neutrality. Referees came from seven different nationalities and three of them made their Rugby World Cup debut. The touch judges came from 10 countries. Tony Spreadbury of England officiated the opening game between France and Argentina at

4050-423: The quarter-finals, e.g. the winner of Pool A faced the runner up of Pool B, and the winner of Pool B faced the runner-up of Pool A. In the knockout stage, if a match resulted in a draw after 80 minutes of normal play, further periods would be played to determine an outright winner. Initially, there would be two periods of extra time , 10 minutes each way; if there was no winner after this, then play would proceed to

4125-571: The referee. In Australian rules football , the move commonly described as a "tackle" is similar to in rugby and involves wrapping, holding or wrestling a player who has possession of the ball to the ground. Tackling players not in possession of the ball is not allowed, this is considered “ holding the man ” and penalised with a free kick to the opposition. As there is no offside rule in Australian rules football, players can be tackled from any direction, and are often blindsided. For this reason,

4200-469: The regional qualifying competitions that began in 2004 – of them, Portugal was the only World Cup debutant. The top three nations from each pool at the end of the pool stage qualified automatically for the 2011 World Cup . The competition opened with a match between hosts France and Argentina on 7 September at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis , outside Paris. The stadium was also the venue of

4275-422: The release of the ball from the contest for possession were having adverse effects. In his view, the domination of defence over attack was slowing the continuity of play, exemplified by what some viewers considered a dour final match in which no tries were scored. Millar said that the game needed to be sped up a bit, to make it easier to play, easier to referee, easier to understand and to produce more options for

4350-495: The right to host the tournament. The tournament was moved to the proposed September–October dates with the tournament structure remaining as it was. It was also announced that ten French cities would be hosting games, with the final at the Stade de France. French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said that "this decision illustrates the qualities of our country and its capacity to host major sporting events...This World Cup will be

4425-485: The rule changes are based on a desire to ensure the contest for the ball is not replaced by a purely attacking, scoring free-for-all where defence is hampered and scorelines multiply. Increased player numbers and increasing spectators in the Northern Hemisphere, along with a more flowing style of play adopted at club level, is held as evidence that the law changes are not required. There was a criticism that

4500-538: The shoulders and above the knees, and a player is able to be thrown to the ground, so long as the tackle is deemed not to be reckless or likely to cause injury. There are also rules outlawing pushing in the back making tackling more difficult. Tripping, by both hand or foot, is not allowed and can be a reportable offence . Players wear little to no padding to cushion the impact of tackles, however players generally wear mouthguards to protect their teeth. There are many types of tackles in Australian rules football: Although

4575-434: The shoulders, if the head is involved in any reckless tackle it results in the offending player being given a yellow card and therefore sin binned. World Rugby now defines a reckless tackle as being any contact where the tackler "knew or should have known that there was a risk of making contact with the head of an opponent, but did so anyway" For various codes of football, variant codes have been developed which substitute out

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4650-399: The sport allows players to shepherd and bump their opponents within 5 metres of the ball, to protect the ball carrier. A tackled player must immediately dispose of the ball legally, by kicking or handballing , but not by throwing or dropping the ball. If this is not done, a holding the ball free kick will be awarded to the tackler. If the ball is knocked free by the tackler, pinned to

4725-477: The stadium was being redeveloped. Two of Scotland's Pool C matches were played at Murrayfield Stadium in Scotland. The Scottish Rugby Union was reportedly having doubts in early 2006 about hosting these games and whether Scotland would generate enough market demand, but confirmed in April 2006 that the games would be played at Murrayfield. In the end, the Scotland v. New Zealand match failed to sell out, and

4800-399: The stadium was less than half-full for the Scotland v. Romania match. There was a substantial increase in the overall capacity of stadiums compared to the 2003 Rugby World Cup – the smallest venue at the 2007 tournament could seat 33,900 people. The French venues were the same as those used for the 1998 FIFA World Cup . Around 6,000 volunteers helped to organise the competition. Although

4875-399: The tackler, which is apt to be beyond the limit that the neck can handle) and also warrants a 15-yard penalty as well as a fresh set of downs if committed by the defending team; this is known as "spearing the player". A similar penalty is assessed to any player attempting to make contact with his helmet against another opponent's helmet, which is known as a helmet-to-helmet collision . Grabbing

4950-425: The tackling element, making the game less physical. In these games, either a being touched by an opponent or, in some codes, having a tag on the player's person removed, has effects similar to a tackle in the parent code. Flag football . Other non-football games that feature ball-tackling or similar concepts include hurling , hockey and shinty , while tackling of people is featured in games like kabaddi . With

5025-441: The term "tackle" is used in Australian rules to exclusively describe wrapping, holding or wrestling a player in possession, there are also several other ways of contesting possession in Australian rules that other sports would describe as a "tackle" and that also involve a degree of contact. Other defensive actions are generally categorised as one percenters . The defensive tactic of punching away (commonly known as spoiling) from

5100-531: The tournament balls, with the Gilbert Synergie match ball used throughout the tournament. This continued Gilbert's involvement with the World Cup, the company having provided the Barbarian (1995), Revolution (1999) and Xact (2003) balls in the past. Along with Gilbert, the official suppliers were Adidas , Coca-Cola , Clifford Chance , Goodyear and McDonald's . The host broadcaster for the event

5175-498: The tournament with a traditional, new and hybrid format all on offer... The French bid, while complying with the tender document in all other respects, fell outside one of the 'windows' in which the IRB wanted to stage an event". England's bids included a two-tier tournament and altering the structure of the qualifying tournament and France had a bid in September/October. It was announced in April 2003 that France had won

5250-421: The winners of Pools A, B and C to be determined by the results of the third pool matches on the weekend of 22 and 23 September. Although other teams could theoretically draw level on table points with South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and exceed their points differences at the end of the pool stages, head-to-head results by that time ensured these teams could be declared winners of their respective pools, with

5325-438: Was TF1. Each country was allowed a squad of 30 players for the tournament. These squads were to be submitted to the International Rugby Board by a deadline of 14 August 2007. Once the squad was submitted a player could be replaced if injured, but would not be allowed to return to the squad. The 2007 Rugby World Cup officials were appointed in late-April 2007, with 12 referees and 13 touch judges being chosen to officiate during

5400-482: Was also announced that the final would be at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The eight quarter-finalists from the 2003 World Cup all received automatic entry, with the other 12 nations coming from qualifying series around the world. Ten of the 20 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers, with an additional two being filled by repechage qualification. The qualifying tournament

5475-452: Was based on the following scoring system: Bonus points , contributing to a team's cumulative match-point score, were awarded in each of the following instances (one match point for each event): At the end of the pool stage, teams were ranked from first to fifth based on cumulative match points, with the top two nations proceeding to the quarter-finals. If at the completion of the pool phase two or more Teams were level on Match points, then

5550-400: Was divided into five regional groups; Africa , Americas , Asia , Europe and Oceania . Qualifying matches began in 2004 and were completed in early 2007. Including the automatic qualifiers, over 90 nations were in qualifying contention for the final tournament. In July 2005, both Samoa and Fiji were confirmed as the qualifiers from Oceania, as Oceania 1 and 2 respectively. In July of

5625-571: Was the venue for one of the quarter-final play-offs, and the Stade de France hosted a quarter-final. Ticket sales for the Rugby World Cup were broken up into three phases. The first phase was released in November 2005, when members of the European rugby community, such as officials, players and so on were given the opportunity for various packages. Upon the release of the second phase ticketing scheme, more than 100,000 tickets were sold in

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