Key: App = Appearances. Con = conversions. Pen = penalties. Drop = drop goals.
Youngest try scorer in a World Cup game
George North Wales, aged 7008613936800000000♠19 years, 166 days (2 tries v Namibia, 26 September 2011)
Oldest try scorer in a World Cup game
Diego Ormaechea, Uruguay, aged 7009126342720000000♠40 years, 13 days (v Spain, 2 October 1999)
Oldest player to appear in a World Cup match
Diego Ormaechea, Uruguay, aged 7009126455040000000♠40 years, 26 days (v South Africa, 15 October 1999)
Oldest player to appear in a World Cup Final
Brad Thorn, New Zealand, aged 7009115871040000000♠36 years, 262 days (v France, 23 October 2011)
Oldest player to win a World Cup Final
Brad Thorn, New Zealand, aged 7009115871040000000♠36 years, 262 days (v France, 23 October 2011)
Youngest player to appear in a World Cup match
Vasil Lobzhanidze, Georgia, aged 7008597412800000000♠18 years, 340 days (v Tonga, 19 September 2015)
Youngest player to appear in a World Cup Final
Jonah Lomu, New Zealand, aged 7008634867200000000♠20 years, 43 days (v South Africa, 24 June 1995)
Youngest player to win a World Cup Final
François Steyn, South Africa, aged 7008644889600000000♠20 years, 159 days (v England, 20 October 2007)
Note: * denotes a record across all tournaments
A foreign coach has never managed a World Cup winning team. In the case of England, which is part of the United Kingdom and also one of the four Home Nations within the context of rugby, their Cup-winning coach was also an Englishman.
Note: Under the current points system of rugby union, and assuming that all individual scores had been the same, France would have beaten Scotland 23-22 in the 1987 match.
89,267 - Ireland vs Romania, 27 September 2015 at Wembley Stadium, London, England, 2015.
Eden Park in Auckland Park was the first stadium to host the Rugby World Cup Final twice, with the 1987 and 2011 finals having been held there. Twickenham Stadium also hosted the final twice in 1991 and 2015.
The record for the city that has been a part of most Rugby World Cups is currently four and is held by Cardiff that hosted matches in 1991, 1999, 2007 and 2015. Edinburgh and Toulouse hosted matches in three tournaments. If the definition of "city" includes its metropolitan area, Paris has also hosted matches in three tournaments. The city of Paris hosted matches in 1991, its adjacent suburb of Saint-Denis hosted matches in 1999, and both cities hosted matches in 2007.
England became the first sole host nation to be eliminated in the pool stages of a Rugby World Cup in 2015. Wales as joint hosts, were eliminated in the pool stages in 1991.
Three match-ups have occurred twice in the same World Cup:
2007 Argentina defeated France in the opening match 17-12, and went on to beat them 34-10 in the Bronze final.
2007 South Africa defeated England 36-0 in the pool stages, and went on to play them in the final, winning 15-6.
2011 New Zealand defeated France 37-17 in the pool stages, and went on to play them in the final, winning 8-7.
Jonny Wilkinson, with 15 points in 2003 and 6 in 2007, is the only player to have scored points in two Rugby World Cup Finals.
Two nations have reached a Rugby World Cup Final having previously lost a game in that tournament: England in 1991 and 2007, and France in 2011, being the only team to reach the final having lost two games.
The teams involved in the most World Cup opening matches are Argentina and New Zealand. The Pumas participated in the first three World Cup openers of the professional era — losing to Wales and Australia in 1999 and 2003 respectively, and defeating France in 2007. The All Blacks defeated Italy in 1987, England in 1991, and Tonga in 2011.
No player scored a conversion in a Rugby World Cup Final between Matt Burke of Australia in 1999 and François Trinh-Duc of France in 2011. Both Jonny Wilkinson and Elton Flatley failed with their sole conversion attempts in 2003, and no tries were scored in 2007's final.
France, Australia and New Zealand are the only nations to have made it to at least the quarter-finals of every Rugby World Cup. Furthermore, South Africa have also done so since they started participating in 1995.
France is the only non English-speaking country to have made it to a Rugby World Cup final - in 1987, 1999 and 2011. It is also the only country to reach a final without ever winning it.
The only Tier Two countries to have participated in every Rugby World Cup are Canada, Japan and Romania, with only the first of those making it to one quarter-final in 1991.
Japan are the only team to have ever won three matches and not progressed beyond the Group Stage, having lost to South Africa and Scotland in their pool by points difference in 2015.
Of the Tier One nations, Italy is the only one not to have made it to at least the quarter-finals in any Rugby World Cup. Conversely, three Tier Two countries have made it to the quarter-finals - Fiji in 1987 and 2007, Canada in 1991 and Samoa (then called Western Samoa) in 1991 and 1995.
The 2015 final between Australia and New Zealand is the highest scoring Rugby World Cup final ever.
After the 2015 final, New Zealand became the first team to win the Rugby World Cup three times, and the first team to have successfully defended its title.
Wales have had the most upsets in the Rugby World Cup, having lost to Samoa both in 1991 and 1999, then losing to Fiji in 2007. Other major upsets include France losing to Tonga in 2011 and South Africa losing to Japan in 2015.
