Pool stage before the 2003 Rugby World Cup opening game between Australia and Argentina The Australian media criticised the competition early in the tournament as the smaller nations were crushed by the rugby superpowers by 60 points or more, in particular a 142–0 victory by the host nation over Namibia, the largest winning margin in Rugby World Cup history. However, some of these smaller, third-tier nations, such as
Japan, acquitted themselves well in their opening matches. The South Pacific island countries of
Fiji,
Tonga and
Samoa were reported as being handicapped by several of their foreign-based key players being warned by their clubs that their contracts would not be renewed if they played in the competition. The pool stage of the competition played out largely as expected, with some tension as to whether some of the "developing" nations would overtake some of the weaker major countries for the second quarter-final qualification place in each pool – in Pool A,
Argentina lost to
Ireland by only one point, when a victory would have carried them into the quarter-finals in Ireland's place; in Pool B, Fiji narrowly missed out on a quarter-final berth, having led Scotland 20–15 with five minutes to go in their deciding match, only for a yellow card to lock
Apenisa Naevo to allow Scotland to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a late converted try; in Pool D,
Italy, despite missing the knockout stage, put up a good performance with two victories. In Pool C, Samoa gave
England a fright with an adventurous approach that allowed them to take an early lead, but England overcame the early deficit and eventually won. This match was marked by controversy, as England technically fielded 16 players for 30 seconds during the game when Dan Luger came onto the pitch in substitution for Mike Tindall, who was receiving treatment for an injury but still on the pitch. England were fined £10,000 as a result. The big clashes ran mainly to form.
South Africa came through the pool in second place, after they lost to England, which meant a quarter-final against
New Zealand.
Australia, however, only beat Ireland by one point to top their pool, while
Wales pushed the All Blacks to the wire in arguably the most entertaining game of the entire tournament; adopting a hyper-attacking style of play, they led 37–33 with just 20 minutes left, but New Zealand eventually proved too much in the 12-try thriller.
France meanwhile routed Scotland to set up a quarter-final against Ireland.
Knockout stage The quarter-final stage produced the widely predicted set of semi-finalists, although England again made heavy weather of defeating a resurgent Wales. England were widely rated the world's best team, but they struggled, at least in the first half, against a Welsh side full of belief after their game against New Zealand. However, spurred into action after the tactical substitution of Catt for Luger and by a Will Greenwood try, set up by a remarkable run by
Jason Robinson from inside his own half, England pulled away in the second half, until a late Welsh try gave the scoreline the respectability that their first-half performance had deserved. France destroyed an Irish side who had gone into the match hopeful of a win, scoring 31 early points to put the game out of reach. In the other quarter-finals, a disappointing South Africa fell to a clinical New Zealand and Australia comprehensively defeated the Scots. The first semi-final produced the first significant upset of the tournament, when Australia defeated the fancied New Zealand to become the first defending champions to reach the following championship final. Unfortunately, it was the last match for Australian star
Ben Darwin, who badly injured his neck in a
scrum. Although Darwin never played rugby again, the actions of
Kees Meeuws – who immediately stopped exerting pressure when he heard the call "neck neck neck" – may well have saved his opponent's life and certainly prevented further injury. The match was decided by a
Stirling Mortlock interception try, after a loose pass from highly rated All Blacks fly-half
Carlos Spencer, and the excellent kicking of inside-centre
Elton Flatley.
George Gregan taunted his opponents in defeat with the comment, "Four more years boys, four more years". The second semi-final saw France face England. The boot of
Jonny Wilkinson was the difference between the two sides, with England coming out victors in torrential rain: although France scored the game's only try after an early English line-out error, they never seriously threatened the English line otherwise. With handling and place-kicking being so difficult in the wet and windy conditions (Wilkinson missed three kicks at goal, and Michalak missed four), England's superior forward pressure and territorial control forced France to concede a slew of penalties, of which Wilkinson kicked five, also adding three drop goals (two off his less-favoured right boot) - a remarkable display considering that the swirling winds made accurate kicking as difficult as the rain and mud made passing and running. French ill-discipline also cost them dear, with winger
Christophe Dominici and flanker
Serge Betsen both receiving yellow-cards for foul play: the former for a cynical trip on Jason Robinson, the latter for a late tackle on Wilkinson. New Zealand played France in the third-place playoff, and New Zealand avenged their shock defeat to France in the semi-finals at the 1999 World Cup, running in 6 tries in a 40-13 demolition.
Mils Muliaina and
Doug Howlett scored a try a-piece, finishing as the tournament's joint-leading try-scorers with 7 tries.
Final The final between Australia and England was played at Sydney's Stadium Australia in front of a crowd of 82,957, and was refereed by veteran South African official
André Watson, in so doing becoming the first, and so far only, referee to officiate two Rugby World Cup finals. Australia opened the scoring after they decided to run a penalty instead of kicking for touch.
Lote Tuqiri beat England's right wing,
Jason Robinson, to a high cross-field kick and went over for the first try, but
Elton Flatley was not able to add the conversion. The rest of the half was a tight affair, with England edging in front from applying pressure and Jonny Wilkinson's boot put them up to a 9–5 lead after Australian indiscipline gave away several penalties, but were unable to capitalise on their territory. Towards the end of the first half, England stretched their lead further.
Lawrence Dallaglio made a break and popped the ball inside to
Jonny Wilkinson, who drew the defence before putting Robinson away in the corner for a try. The conversion was missed, but England went in at half time leading by 14–5. In the second half Australia tightened their discipline, and solid play forced mistakes from England. The game swung from end to end, with both sides having try-scoring opportunities, but neither able to take them. Australia managed to get points on the board and
Elton Flatley scored two penalties to make the score 14–11 to England. In the 79th minute, Australia were putting pressure on England in their half, and Australia were awarded a penalty right before full-time, with the potential to tie the scores. Flatley converted it to make the score 14–14 and take the game into an additional 20 minutes' extra time. England opened the scoring in extra time with another Wilkinson penalty, but with two and a half minutes of extra time remaining Australia were awarded another penalty, which Flatley kicked successfully. With 20 seconds left before sudden death, Wilkinson scored a drop goal to win the match and with it the world championship.
Post-final After the final, Australian Prime Minister John Howard was widely criticised for his behaviour during the presentation ceremony. The offhand manner in which he presented the Webb Ellis Cup to the England captain was seen by many as a graceless piece of bad sportsmanship not befitting such a climactic sporting spectacle. Three days after the final, the World Cup winning England team landed at
Heathrow Airport in the early hours of the morning, emerging from their plane to a huge reception, despite the time. On 8 December, a national day of celebration took place in the form of a massive victory parade in the streets of London. ==Pool stage==