Introduction : Wallabies Winning Way

The wallabies were the first team to lift the trophy twice.

The tournament was expanded from 16 teams to 20 teams, where 41 matches were played from October 1 to November 6.

In this World Cup, the qualification process was different to the previous one. Only four of the 20 countries had automatically qualified, this included the champions, runner-up and the third placed nation at the 1995 World Cup as well as the host nation.

The remaining 16 spots were battled out in a qualification process, where a record 65 nations from five continents were involved.

Matthew Burke was the stand out man throughout the tournament- with a total of 91 points (two tries, 17 conversions and 19 penalties).

Australia ended winners after they demolished France 35-12 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

The overall attendance at the World Cup was 1.75 million people.