Who won the Rugby World Cup?

Previous winners list of the Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is undoubtedly one of the marquee sporting events of 2023. Gathered in France between 8 September and 28 October, the world's best teams will attempt to win the title of world champions. Only four nations have captured the Rugby World Cup title since the creation of the tournament, but who are they? Here is the list of prior winners of this competition, year by year.

• 1987 - New Zealand (1)
• 1991 - Australia (1)
• 1995 - South Africa (1)
• 1999 - Australia (2)
• 2003 - England (1)
• 2007 - South Africa (2)
• 2011 - New Zealand (2)
• 2015 - New Zealand (3)
• 2019 - South Africa (3)

In 9 editions of the Rugby 15-a-side World Cup, only four nations have won the trophy: New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England. Two teams are tied for the most titles at three: the South African Springboks and the New Zealand All-Blacks. These two teams will be studied throughout the 2023 World Cup in our Rugby World Cup predictions.

Who won the last Rugby World Cup?

As you can see from the list of winners above, South Africa are the defending Rugby World Cup champions.

In Japan in 2019, the Springboks beat England's Rose XV in the final by a resounding score of 32-12. The final was attended by more than 70,000 spectators at the Yokohama International Stadium and featured a memorable performance by Duane Vermeulen.

How many Rugby World Cups have England, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand won?

As you will have gathered from the previous information, New Zealand are tied for the most Rugby World Cup titles with three. They were also the first nation to be crowned champions upon winning the inaugural 1987 iteration of the competition. The All-Blacks most recent triumph in this tournament came in 2015, where they successfully defended their 2011 crown to become the first nation to win back-to-back titles.

England is now facing the possibility of over two decades without a Rugby World Cup title if they fail to win in France. Their sole Webb Ellis Cup came in 2003 when they defeated Australia 20-17 in extra time. The Red and Whites have come close on three other occasions, finishing as runners-up in 1991, 2007 and most recently in 2019. England’s three second-place finishes is tied with France for the most all-time.

Ireland has qualified for all nine Rugby World Cups but have yet to make it to the semi-finals. Despite this, the Wolfhounds have shown excellent consistency to make it out of the group stage by progressing to the quarter-finals on seven of nine occasions. The 2019 tournament saw Ireland finish second in Pool A but ultimately fall to a heavy 46-14 to New Zealand in the knockout stages. Will this be the year that the Irish finally break through to the semis or possibly even the final?

Australia have two Rugby World Cup titles to their name. The first came in 1991 where they beat England by a score of 12-6 and the most recent was in the 1999 edition after defeating France 35-12. The Wallabies have qualified for every iteration of the competition and have made it to at least the quarter-finals in all nine appearances. Their four finals appearances is tied with England and New Zealand for the most all-time. Since winning the title in 1999, Australia’s best ever finish was a bronze medal they picked up in 2011. The 2019 tournament saw them eliminated by eventual finalists England in the quarter-final. 

Will one of these storied Rugby nations lift the Webb Ellis Cup yet again or will an outsider claim their first Rugby World Cup title? To see which team the bookmakers favour, head over to our Rugby World Cup odds page. You can follow all of the action as it happens on our Rugby World Cup Live page.

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