The 2003 Rugby World Cup , which is also known as the fifth Rugby World Cup , was hosted by Australia . Twenty participating teams competed against each other during the event for the title of world champion .
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was scheduled between 10 th October and 22 nd November. In the qualifying round for the final stage of the World Cup , eighty one nations participated for the twelve places in the final twenty. The rest eight places were taken by the eight teams qualifying for the quarter finals of the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
The teams directly qualifying for the final round of the 2003 Rugby World Cup were Australia, the 1999 World Cup champion and host, France , the runner-up, South Africa , Argentina, New Zealand , England , Scotland and Wales. Georgia qualified for the first time for the final stage of the 2003 Rugby World Cup . Apart from Argentina, other American countries qualifying for the final round of the 2003 World Cup were Canada , the United States of America and Uruguay. The only Asian country playing in the competition was Japan . From Oceania Fiji, Samoa and Tonga made it to the final twenty along with Australia and New Zealand. Namibia and the automatic qualifier South Africa were the African teams in the 2003 Rugby World Cup . From Europe, four teams were selected into the final twenty through qualifying round. These teams were Ireland, Italy, Romania and Georgia . At the end of the 2003 Rugby World Cup , England became the world champion for the first time defeating Australia.
