Rugby World Cup: France 2023 Trivia Quiz

Answer: First final in which the winning team failed to score a try

South Africa and New Zealand had met before in the final, back in 1995. That game had also ended with South Africa winning the match (15-12), without scoring a try. In fact, the 2023 final was the third time that the winning side had failed to score a try in the course of the game and all three of the occasions had seen South Africa emerge victorious. The second occasion was the 2007 final when South Africa defeated England 15-6.

South Africa retained the title that they won in Yokahama, Japan in 2019 win another final win over England - that time they scored two tries in a 32-12 win. The only other team to have won back to world titles up to that point were New Zealand who claimed the 2011 and 2015 titles. The latter was won in England but the first had been at home.

In the 2019 edition, South Africa had become the first team to win the World Cup after losing a pool game (losing to New Zealand), but this was the first time that both finalists came to the game with prior losses. In New Zealand's case, their defeat to France in theoir opening pool match was their first-ever loss in a pool game in the ten editions of the competition.

Answer: Chile

Portugal were making their second appearance in the competition, 16 years after their first. Uruguay were making their fifth overall appearance and their third in a row. Tonga were taking part in their ninth World Cup.

In qualifying, Chile beat both Canada and the USA -- Canada failed to qualify for the first time ever and the USA for the first time in 28 years. Chile's tournament was a tough one. They lost all their Pool D matches but took great heart from scoring their first try against Tier 1 opposition, in their game against their neighbours Argentina.

Answer: Australia

Australia, champions in 1991 and 1999, had a tournament to forget. Drawn in Pool C, they opened with a decent performance and victory over Georgia but then lost the two crucial matches in the pool. Firstly they suffered their first defeat to Fiji for 53 years (15-22) before succumbing to a heavy loss to Wales (6-40).

A victory over Portugal in their final game wasn't enough to save them. It was the first time they;d failed to qualify for the quarter-fnals.

Answer: Georgia v Portugal

Both sides ultimately would be disappointed with the result of what was a highly entertaining game. Portugal looked particularly crestfallen at the end of the 18-18 draw as they conceded a late try and then missed a last minute penalty that would have given them their first ever World Cup win. Fortunately, they only had to wait a few days for that to come when they recorded the shock of the tournament with an outstanding 24-23 win over quarter-finalists Fiji in their final pool game. This was only the fourth draw in the history of the World Cup and the first for 12 years:
1987 : 20-20 : France v Scotland
2007 : 12-12 : Canada v Japan
2011 : 23-23 : Canada v Japan.

Answer: Pool B - Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, Tonga, Romania

Coming into the tournament, Ireland and South Africa were ranked #1 and #2 in the world with Scotland at #5. Unfortunately for the Scots, they suffered defeats to both Ireland and South Africa and despite having one of their most talented squads in years, they left the tournament after the pool stage. In addition to the slightly lopsided pool draw, the quarter-final draw meant that only two of the world's top five ranked teams could reach the semis. On the plus side, the draw delivered arguably the finest four quarter finals in the history of the competition.

World Rugby have decided to change when the World Cup draw takes place for future tournaments, so that the draw would have a better chance of reflecting the world rankings when the World Cup takes place.

Answer: Ireland had never won a single knockout game at the World Cup

Astonishingly, Ireland left their tenth World Cup tournament still without a single knockout win. It was the eighth time that they had departed the competition at the quarter-final stage. It was a particularly agonising defeat this time around because Ireland had come into the tournament with high expectations as the number one team in the world rankings, the reigning Six Nations champions and having recorded back-to-back victories over the All Blacks the year before the finals; their first ever away wins against the New Zealanders.

Answer: Will Jordan

In addition to his semi-final hat-trick, Jordan's tries came in pool matches against Uruguay (two) and Italy (two) as well as one in the quarter final against Ireland. His tally equalled the World Cup record of eight tries, jointly held by fellow All Blacks Jonah Lomu (1999) and Julian Savea (2015) and South African Brian Habana (2007).

Answer: Henry Arundell

Arundell equalled the English record held by Josh Lewsey who scored five tries against Uruguay in 2003. He fell one short of the overall World Cup record held by Mark Ellis of New Zealand, who touched down six times against Japan in a game in 1995.

Answer: Sam Whitelock

New Zealnd's last pool match saw Whitelock made his 23rd appearance, against Uruguay, beating the record jointly held by his compatriot Richie McCaw and England's Jason Leonard. Whitelock would extend his record to 26 appearances by playing in each of New Zealand's knockout matches (quarters, semis & final).

By the end of the tournament, he had won more matches (23) than any other player had even played.

Answer: 3 points

Astonishingly, South Africa won each of their quarter-final, semi-final and final by a single point. In the quarter final they held off the hosts France 29-28 in one of the greatest games ever seen at a World Cup (or anywhere else for that matter). A breathless first half saw six tries equally shared between the teams. An Eben Etzebeth try with 13 minutes to go put them a point ahead and after penalties were exchanged, their impressive defensive work kept the talented France team from getting the single score they needed to win.

In the semi-final, South Africa trailed England for most of the match. With just over ten minutes remaining, the Boks trailed 15-6 but they put together a powerful drive that delivered the game's only try to bring themselves back into it; and a penalty by replacement fly half Handre Pollard with three minutes to go put them ahead 16-15 and England were unable to respond.

The final was equally as tight but South Africa were never behind. 12-6 ahead at half time, they again put in an extraordinary effort in defence to limit New Zealand to just one try. With Richie Mo'unga unable to convert tha try to go into the lead, it was enough to deliver the trophy to the Spingboks with a 12-11 win.