2019 Rugby World Cup qualifying
The qualification process for the 2019 Rugby World Cup began during the pool stages of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where the top three teams of each pool automatically qualified for the 2019 event. A further 8 teams are yet to qualify, which will take place between 2016 and 2018 in regional tournaments and a repechage round-robin tournament.[1]
To date, 12 teams have qualified for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, by virtue of finishing in the top 3 in their respective pools during the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Hosts Japan have also qualified.
The qualification process will start in March 2016.
Qualifiers
| Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Oceania | |
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| Qualified at 2015 RWC |
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| Qualified via Regional slots |
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| Qualified via inter-confederation play-off[lower-alpha 1] |
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| Qualified via Repechage Tournament[lower-alpha 1] |
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- 1 2 Final slots to be determined. Possible teams pointed in italic.
- 1 2 3 4 Europe/Oceania play-off qualifier: The third place team from the Pacific Tri-Nations will play a home and away play-off with the second-ranked team in the Rugby Europe Championship (excluding Georgia) with the winner on aggregate qualifying for RWC 2019. The loser will qualify for the repechage tournament
- ↑ Asia/Oceania play-off for repechage place: The highest-ranked Asian Rugby Championship team, excluding Japan, will play a home and away play-off series against the Oceania Cup winner, to gain a berth in the repechage tournament.
Qualification process
Qualification started in the pool stage of RWC 2015 tournament. 12 teams received an automatic qualification berth by finishing in the top 3 positions of their respective pools.
A further 8 berths for the tournament were then available through regional tournaments and the repechage process.
The non-automatic qualification process will begin in 2016, by the end of which the final 8 berths will be filled by November 2018.
The pool draw for the 2019 Rugby World Cup will take place in December 2016. As with the 2015 tournament, the top 12 teams will be grouped into 3 bands for the pool draw as per their World Rugby Rankings on that date, while the other 8 qualifying teams will be split into a fourth and fifth band. One team from each band will be drawn into each pool.
Regional qualification
Six of the final eight places were assigned to different regions by World Rugby; with the final two places being decided by an inter-confederation play-off and a repechage round-robin tournament.
| Region | Automatic qualifiers | Teams in qualifying process | Qualifying places | Qualifying teams | World Cup pool(s) | Repechage places | Repechage teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 1 | TBA | 1 | TBD | TBD | 1 | TBD |
| Americas | 1 | TBA | 2 | TBD | TBD | 1 | TBD |
| Asia | 1 | TBA | 0 | TBD | TBD | 0/12 | TBD |
| Europe | 7 | TBA | 1/21 | TBD | TBD | 0/11 | TBD |
| Oceania | 2 | TBA | 2/31 | TBD | TBD | 0/1/21,2 | TBD |
| TOTALS | 12 | TBA | 7 | 4 | (1 WC Place) |
1 One Europe/Oceania play-off qualifier: Europe could gain a second qualifying place, while Oceania could gain a third qualifying place, as the second best Rugby Europe Championship will play a home and away play-off series against the third place team from the Pacific Tri-Nations, to gain qualification for Rugby World Cup 2019. The loser of that series, could give Europe one repechage berth or Oceania one repechage berth (or two repechage berths - see note 2).
2 Asia/Oceania play-off for repechage place: The highest-ranked Asian Rugby Championship team, excluding Japan, will play a home and away play-off series against the Oceania Cup winner, to gain a berth in the repechage tournament. Asia could gain one repechage berth, while Oceania could gain one repechage berth (or two repechage berths - see note 1).
References
External links
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