1987 Rugby World Cup

The tournament comprised the seven members of the IRFB, and nine teams invited by the IRFB; there was no qualification process for teams. • South Africa was excluded due to its pro-apartheid policies. • Soviet Union were to be invited but declined. ==Venues==

• Kerry Fitzgerald • Bob Fordham • Fred Howard • Roger Quittenton • René Hourquet • Guy Maurette • David Burnett • Stephen Hilditch • Dave Bishop • Keith Lawrence • Brian Anderson • Jim Fleming • Derek Bevan • Clive Norling ==Pools and format==

• Pool 1 was played in Australia • Pool 2 was played with five matches held in New Zealand and one in Australia • Pool 3 was played in New Zealand • Pool 4 was played in New Zealand The inaugural World Cup was contested by 16 nations. There was no qualifying tournament to determine the participants; instead, the 16 nations were invited by the International Rugby Football Board to compete. The simple 16-team pool/knock-out format was used with the teams divided into four pools of four, with each team playing the others in their pool once, for a total of three matches per team in the pool stage. Nations were awarded two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss: teams finishing level on points were separated by tries scored, rather than total points difference (had it been otherwise, Argentina would have taken second place in Group C ahead of Fiji, although France would still have won Group D.) The top two nations of every pool advanced to the quarter-finals. The runners-up of each pool faced the winners of a different pool in the quarter-finals. A standard single-elimination tournament followed, with the losers of the semi-finals contesting an additional play-off match to determine third place. A total of 32 matches (24 in the pool stage and eight in the knock-out stage) were played in the tournament over 29 days from 22 May to 20 June 1987. ==Pool stage==

Pool 1 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Pool 2 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Pool 3 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Pool 4 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ==Knockout stage==

Quarter-finals ---- ---- ---- Semi-finals ---- Third-place play-off Final ==Statistics==

The tournament's top point scorer was New Zealand's Grant Fox, who scored 126 points. Craig Green and John Kirwan scored the most tries, six in total. ==Broadcasters==

The event was broadcast in Australia by ABC and by TVNZ in New Zealand as host broadcasters supplying their pictures to broadcasters around the world and in the United Kingdom by the BBC and in Ireland by RTÉ. ==References==