Rugby World Cup commenced in 1987 with Australia and New Zealand as host nations and followed a well-organized schedule .
New Zealand emerged as the winner in the inaugural meet and France as the runner-up. Sixteen teams from all over the world participated in the Rugby extravaganza. The event started from 22 nd May and ended on 20 th June, 1987. All the matches were played in Australia and New Zealand. Total of thirty two matches were played in the tournament.
Sixteen nations that were invited by the International Rugby Football Board were divided into four pools . Each pool had four countries under it. Each member had to play three pool opponents once in the league stage. Two points for a win, 1 point for draw and no points for a loss were awarded to the teams. The schedule was such that the two top-scoring teams from each pool progressed to the quarter-final stage. The teams reaching the quarter finals in 1987 Rugby World Cup were New Zealand, Scotland, Wales, England, France, Fiji, Australia and Ireland. The semi-final was played between New Zealand (49) vs. Wales (6) and France (30) vs. Australia (24). The final match was played between New Zealand and France on 20 th June, 1987 at Eden Park, Auckland. Both the contenders were strong and finally New Zealand bagged the champion's trophy defeating France by 29-9. A match was also conducted for the third place in the 1987 Rugby World Cup , which was played between Wales and Australia. This was considered the most interesting match of the tournament, with Wales winning the match by a narrow margin of 22-21.
