Introduction: Bienvenue en France
The World Cup took place from September 7 to October 20 and featured most of the same countries as the previous World Cup – with the only change being Portugal, who appeared in place of Uruguay.
Out of the 48 matches in the tournament, four of them were played in Wales, two in Scotland- with the rest being staged in France.
In this World Cup the qualification process was the same as the previous one (quarterfinalists of the previous World Cup received automatic entry, the hosts – with the remaining 12 teams qualifying through regional qualifiers).
Bryan Habana was the talk of the town at the World Cup. He scored 40poins in seven matches, which helped South Africa take the cup.
Other players who stood out for the Springboks were Percy Montgomery, Jaque Fourie, JP Pietersen and Juan Smith.
The Springboks dominated the final- with a 15-6 victory over England in Stade de France, Saint-Denis.
Out of the 33 tries South Africa scored in the tournament, four players had scored 20 of them.
Each team that participated in the tournament, were allowed a squad of the 30 players.
South Africa had also won the 1995 World Cup- with 15 points, when they beat New Zealand 15-12.
Despite the All Blacks being eliminated in the quarterfinals, they had still set a new record – with 22 different try scorers in a single tournament.
For the first time, the top three teams in each pool received automatic qualification to the 2011 World Cup.
Australia and South Africa were the only two teams to win the Webb Ellis Cup trophy twice.
The final was the lowest scoring match of the tournament.
