"has competed in the Rugby League World Cup since 1954. They were the previous World Champions, winning the World Cup for the first time on 22 November 2008 at Lang Park, Brisbane. The team also reached the 2013 Rugby League World Cup (hosted by England and Wales) final on Saturday 30 October 2013. They lost to Australia in the final, 34-2. The team's most recent title came in the 2014 Rugby League Four Nations tournament by beating Australia, which brings their Rugby League Four Nations championships total to two. The sport is administered by New Zealand Football, which changed its"
"2008 Rugby League World Cup Final and in the 2010 Four Nations. Winning the Anzac test was seen as the one achievement that alluded the New Zealand team. However, Australia went into the match as favorites, having won the last nine Anzac Tests and having never lost to New Zealand in an Anzac Test in Australia. The odds for an Australian win opened at $1.35 but dropped to $1.22 while New Zealand was paying $4.25. The New Zealand national anthem was performed by J.Williams. <nowiki>*</nowiki>Replaced originally selected David Shillington who withdrew due to injury. New Zealand were criticized after the"
"win as Kiwis captain. In the World Cup knockout finals, Foran featured in the Kiwis' quarter-final 40-4 win over Scotland, and the semi-final 20-18 win over England, which took the Kiwis to the World Cup final for a re-match of the 2008 World Cup final against Australia. Unlike the 2008 final, where New Zealand won their first ever World Cup by defeating Australia 34-20 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia won the 2014 final 34-2, in front of a world record international rugby league crowd of 74,468 at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. Following the World Cup, Foran won"
"and is very popular in Australia. It attracts significant attention across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Australia and New Zealand are two of the most successful sides in the world. Australia has won the Rugby League World Cup a record ten times (most recently defeating New Zealand 34-2 in 2013) while New Zealand won their first World Cup in 2008. Australia hosted the second tournament in 1957. Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted it in 1968 and 1977. New Zealand hosted the final for the first time in 1985–1988 tournament and Australia hosted the tournament again in 2008. The"
"World Cup for a record eleventh time, beating England 6–0 to retain the Paul Barrière Trophy and become the first team since 1977 to win the World Cup on home soil. This match saw a new equal record low for tries in a Rugby League World Cup Final with only one try scored, equaling the one try scored in the 1992 final. It also saw the lowest combined score for a final of 6, which was also previously held by the 1992 final where only 16 points was scored. Brisbane previously hosted the final of the 2008 tournament, in which"
"2008 Rugby League World Cup knockout stage The 2008 Rugby League World Cup knockout stage took place after the Group stage of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup and culminated in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup Final This was the lowest-attended match of the tournament, however it was filled to capacity for a ground that had never seen top-level rugby league before. Fiji and Ireland, who had finished at the top of their respective groups, faced off at Queensland's Gold Coast. At stake was the chance to play Australia in the semi-final. Fiji had lost prop Iowane Divavesi to"
"Zealand, but disagreements over scheduling and signage at venues led to Australia going it alone. England won the tournament, defeating Australia in the final 20 points to 17. With 21 seconds left before sudden death England's Jonny Wilkinson landed a drop goal to win the match. England became the first northern hemisphere nation to win a Rugby World Cup. Upon returning home, the English side was greeted by an estimated 750,000 people at a street parade celebrating their victory. The 2007 World Cup was held in France, with matches also played in Wales and Scotland. The tournament was won by"
"the right to host the final, but as international crowds in Australia had been dwindling in recent years due to the Kangaroos dominance (only 15,944 had attended the dead rubber Ashes series test between Australia and Great Britain at the Sydney Football Stadium three months earlier), the Australian Rugby League agreed to New Zealand hosting the game in the interests of promoting international rugby league. Their efforts were rewarded with the largest World Cup Final attendance since 1968, when 54,290 saw Australia defeat France at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Eden Park hosted two matches (a double header) in the 2010"
"2008 Rugby League World Cup Group B game between Scotland and France was played at Canberra Stadium, the first ever rugby league test played at the venue. France defeated Scotland 36-16. In 2009 there was an A-League bid from Canberra that, if successful would have seen a team play at the stadium starting with the 2010–11 season. However, the league chose to award second teams to Sydney Rovers FC (which dissolved due to financial issues) and Melbourne Heart FC. The stadium is currently owned by the Australian Government through the Australian Sports Commission and leased to the Australian Capital Territory"
"France and Papua New Guinea were uncompetitive, leading to a straight fight between New Zealand and Great Britain for the right to meet the Kangaroos in the final. In the event the Lions were able to just edge out the Kiwis on points difference. As they had done in 1988, Australia had won the right to host the World Cup Final. However, with the potential for a much larger attendance, the Australian Rugby League agreed to allow Great Britain to host the game at the 82,000 capacity Wembley Stadium in London. The final was a surprisingly close affair, with Great"
"the tables on defending champions South Africa, beating them 27–21 to make it to the final. There they defeated France 35 to 12, in the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final and becoming the first nation to win the World Cup more than once. Australia were the sole hosts of the tournament in 2003, and went undefeated in Pool A, beating Ireland, Argentina, Romania and Namibia. Australia defeated Scotland in the quarter finals, and then the All Blacks in what was regarded as an upset in the semi-finals, to go to the final. England won the final in Sydney during extra"
"the Kangaroos went on to win and dominate all of their remaining matches, recording a 244–4 total aggregate score. They went on to earn revenge for their defeat to New Zealand five years ago in the World Cup final to beat them this time around at the same stage. The final was watched in front of a record International rugby league attendance of 74,468 and in the match, five-eighth, Johnathan Thurston broke Mick Cronin's 31-year record of top point scorer after a conversion took him past the previous record of 309 points. This was the Kangaroos' tenth World Cup title."
"to reach the final, to become the second team, after New Zealand, to make four Rugby World Cup finals, having previously played in the 1991, 1999 and 2003 finals. New Zealand played with most of the possession and territory early in the match. After eight minutes, Dan Carter scored the first points in the match, putting New Zealand ahead 3–0. In the 15th minute New Zealand fullback Ben Smith knocked the ball on, and from the resulting scrum New Zealand were penalised when their front row collapsed allowing Bernard Foley to tie the scores. Referee Nigel Owens awarded a penalty"
"the West Indies and South Africa withdrew and so a one-off match was played between Japan and the USA. 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying matches took place from April 2006 to November 2007. Of the ten teams to compete in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, five of them qualified based on their performance in these matches. The other five teams had qualified automatically. 6 Asian-Pacific teams qualified for the World Cup; 3 qualified automatically, with the top 2 in the Pacific qualifying group also reaching the finals. Samoa finished third in the"
"and a record seven overall, by defeating South Africa in the final of the 2008 Hong Kong Sevens. Their record streaks of tournaments won (7) and match wins (47) ended in the final of the Adelaide Sevens with a 15–7 defeat to South Africa. Although they would lose to England in the Cup quarterfinals of the next event, the London Sevens, they won the second-level Plate final, giving them enough points to secure the 2007–08 series crown with one round to spare. World Rugby Sevens Series Rugby World Cup Sevens Commonwealth Games Oceania Sevens New Zealand has won the World"
"to Australia. The men's teams of Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, who entered the semi-finals in the two previous editions, failed to do so in 2009: the former were defeated by quarter-finals Kenya and Wales respectively, whereas Australia lost two of the three matches in the pool stage and did not advance to quarter-finals. Wales, which had never reached quarter-finals in the previous editions of the World Cup, beat Samoa in semi-finals and Argentina in the final to win the tournament. Kenya had never reached the Cup or Plate stages before, but shared 3rd place in 2009. A record seven"
"2008 Super 14 Final The final of the 2008 Super 14 season, a provincial rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere, took place on 31 May 2008 at AMI Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. The match was hosted by the Canterbury Crusaders who defeated the New South Wales Waratahs by 20 points to 12. The Crusaders and Waratahs finished the round-robin first and second on the Super 14 table respectively. The Crusaders finished nine points clear of second place, and had secured a top of the table position prior to the last week of the round-robin. The Waratahs only secured"
"on to defeat England 16-8 in the World Cup Final at London's Wembley Stadium. The Kangaroos made the final the hard way, losing the tournament's opening game to England at Wembley, and finally after defeating New Zealand 30-20 after extra-time in the Semi-finals. The Australian SL players, led by Canberra's Daley, Stuart, Clyde, Walters and Mullins, won a court order against the ARL making SL players eligible for representative games. However, despite assurances from the ARL that all players were considered, it came as no surprise when only ARL loyal players made the Kangaroos World Cup squad. As one unnamed"
"by England in their three tests (the first time they had lost a series against England in Australia), Argentina's series against France ended in one win each and Ireland won their first match in South Africa before losing the next two and the series. These results and their 11 match winning streak leading into the tournament made New Zealand firm favourites to secure their fourth Rugby Championship title since it expanded to include Argentina five years ago. The opening match was played between New Zealand and Australia at ANZ stadium in Sydney. New Zealand comprehensively beat Australia 42–8, scoring six"
"squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. He played from the interchange bench as England came from behind to scrape past Papua New Guinea. The final score was 32-22, in the opening game of the tournament. England then lost 52-4, to host nation and tournament favourites, Australia. McGuire was left out of the squad for England's final group game. Where they surrendered a 24-12 half-time lead, to lose 36-24 to New Zealand. McGuire started his first game of the tournament against New Zealand in the semi-final. It also proved to be his last as despite scoring two tries, McGuire"
"2003 Rugby World Cup Final The 2003 Rugby World Cup Final was the final match in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the fifth Rugby World Cup. The match was played between and on 22 November 2003 at Telstra Stadium in Sydney in front of a crowd of 82,957. The British television audience peaked at 15 million viewers, making it the most watched sports program of 2003; the world wide television audience was 22 million. Australia opened the 2003 Rugby World Cup at Stadium Australia in Sydney, where they beat Argentina 24–8. The next two pool games were against tier 2"
"the quarter-final stage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, also at the Millennium Stadium). However, New Zealand crushed France 62–13, the highest winning margin in a World Cup knockout game since their win over Wales in 1987. Julian Savea scored a second hat-trick in the rout, equaling Jonah Lomu and Bryan Habana's record of eight tries in a World Cup. New Zealand reached the final after defeating South Africa 20–18 in a tight semi-final on 24 October, where New Zealand became the first ever nation to make four Rugby World Cup finals, having previously made the 1987, 1995 and 2011"
"in 2008. National teams taking part were Botswana, Emerging Springboks, France A (Les Blues), Japan, Namibia, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. In addition Samurai Sevens (a professional rugby invitation side) and the Kenya A sevens team (""Shujaa"") and University of Paris also took part. Bristol University Select (a team put together from Bristol University, Clifton RFC and the professional Guinness Premiership side Bristol) returned to take part in the Safari Sevens yet again; they have participated in every Safari Sevens ever staged. Kenya won the competition beating the Emerging Boks in the final, 31–12. The continued increase in"
"Cup in 1954, 1960 and 1972, but England and Wales now compete separately in this tournament and Australia have won every World Cup since 1975 except in 2008, when they were upset in the final by New Zealand. The Great Britain team is retained for some competitions, such as with Australia and New Zealand in the recently founded Tri-Nations competition, and in test series such as the Ashes (against Australia) and the Baskerville Shield (against New Zealand). In 2013, the United Kingdom hosted the Rugby league World Cup for the 5th time, with England and Wales officially serving as joint"
"be played in 2007–08, with clubs from all the six nations. On 20 May it was announced that both French and English top-tier teams would be competing In the 2008 final, Munster won the cup for their second time ever by beating Toulouse at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Leinster won the title in 2009 in their first ever final after beating Munster in the semi-final in front of a then world record Rugby Union club match attendance in Croke Park. They beat the Leicester Tigers in the final at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. They also beat Harlequins 6–5 in"
"rounds 15 and 16 for international matches), followed by the finals series, culminating in the grand final on 4 August. While its three main broadcasting partners are Fox Sports (Australia), Sky Sport (New Zealand) and SuperSport (South Africa), Super Rugby can be viewed in many countries throughout the world. The Chiefs, based in Hamilton, New Zealand, claimed their first-ever title in the competition's history, defeating the Durban-based Sharks 37–6 in the final held on 4 August at the Chiefs' home of Waikato Stadium. Covering 24 weeks, the schedule featured a total of 125 matches. The 15 teams are grouped by"
"tournament winless. The African side was able to win the IRB Nations Cup in 2010. Namibia achieved their fourth World Cup qualification in a row after defeating Côte d'Ivoire in 2011. They were drawn into Pool D, with South Africa, Wales, Fiji and Samoa. Their first match in the Rugby World Cup, held in New Zealand (at the Rotorua International Stadium) resulted in a defeat by Fiji by 45–29. Their second match in this tournament was a 49–12 loss to Samoa but the third was an 87–0 loss to South Africa. In their final pool game, Wales proved to be"
"years. This also sees Eden Park (as of 2018) as the only venue to host the World Cup Final for both rugby codes. In a spiteful match in which the New Zealand national rugby league team seemed more intent on dishing out punishment than playing football, the Wally Lewis-led Australians defeated the home side 25–12 after leading 25–0 early in the second half. The game was played in front of a record New Zealand rugby league attendance of 47,363 (only 672 less than attended the 1987 Rugby WCF between the All Blacks and France 16 months earlier). Australia had won"
"the semi-finals. It also confirmed Sri Lanka's place in the top four, as only one other team below them could equal Sri Lanka's 8 points. Ireland's total of 243/7 was their highest in World Cup matches. Bangladesh's loss meant that they could not now qualify for the semi-finals. Australia were now guaranteed either first or second place in the Super 8s, and Sri Lanka could no longer get first place. This result confirmed that South Africa had clinched one of the four semi-final places, and that England and the West Indies were unable to progress. Australia secured top place on"
"final. Since then the All Blacks were favourites on several occasions, but did not win for another 24 years. New Zealand lost to Australia in the semi-final in 2003 and fell to the French team in the quarter-final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Intense lobbying by the NZRFU and the New Zealand Government helped New Zealand secure hosting rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks regained the World Cup on home soil in 2011. They have gone on to be the first country in history to win the Rugby World Cup two times consecutively, as they"
"2007 Rugby World Cup Final The 2007 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match, played on Saturday, 20 October 2007 at the Stade de France, Saint-Denis, Paris, to determine the winner of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. South Africa beat England 15-6. Having also won the 1995 tournament, South Africa became the second country to win two World Cups, following Australia, who won in 1991 and 1999. The two teams, who won their semi-finals against France and Argentina respectively, had met earlier in the competition, during the pool stage, when South Africa won 36–0. South Africa began the"
"Championship final for the first time in 1908, against Durham. The match, contested on 28 March 1908 at Redruth, Cornwall, was won by Cornwall 17–3. In 1908, the Olympic Games were hosted in London, and it was decided to include rugby in the event. Although several international teams had initially entered the tournament, the Home Nations were unable to decide amongst themselves who should represent the United Kingdom, and France, the previous winners, withdrew. The Wallabies were then on a tour of the Home Nations, and were the only team left. The RFU asked Cornwall, the day after Australia had"
"2008 World Club Challenge The 2008 Carnegie World Club Challenge was contested between Super League XII champions, the Leeds Rhinos and National Rugby League season 2007 premiers, the Melbourne Storm. For the fifth consecutive year the English home team defeated their Australian counterparts. Leeds Rhinos qualified through being the 2007 Super League champions, defeating St. Helens 33 - 6 in the Grand Final. Melbourne Storm clinched the 2007 National Rugby League title in a 34 - 8 belting of Manly, earning them a place in the World Club Challenge. Melbourne played a warm-up game against National League One team Halifax."