Scotland at the Rugby World Cup

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Scotland vs Italy at St Etienne, 2007 World Cup

Map of nations best results, excluding nations which unsuccessfully participated in qualifying tournaments.

Please note: This article is about rugby union, for Scotland in the rugby league world cup, please see Scotland national rugby league team#Rugby League World Cup

Scotland have played in every Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987.

Their best finish was fourth in 1991. In their semi-final on October 26, 1991 Scotland lost 6–9 to England at Murrayfield after Gavin Hastings missed a penalty almost in front of and a short distance from the posts. On October 30 Scotland lost the third-place play-off to New Zealand in Cardiff 13–6. Since then they have qualified for the quarter-finals in every tournament, but have not since qualified for the semi-finals.

Comprehensive team results

Scottish fans at the 2007 game against Romania

Legend

• W - Champions
• F - Runners Up
• SF - Third place
• SF - Fourth place
• QF - Quarterfinals
• R2 - Second Round
• R1 - First Round
• q - Qualified for forthcoming tournament

For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of qualified teams in each tournament (in parentheses) are shown.

Team	1987	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011
	16	16	16	20	20	20	20
Scotland	6th	4th	6th	6th	8th	8th	q

Year	Stage	Team	Score	Team	Venue
1987	Pool 4	France	20-20	Scotland	Lancaster Park
1987	Pool 4	Scotland	60-21	Zimbabwe	Athletic Park
1987	Pool 4	Romania	28-55	Scotland	Carisbrook
1987	Quarter-final	New Zealand	30-3	Scotland	Lancaster Park
1991	Pool B	Scotland	47-9	Japan	Murrayfield
1991	Pool B	Scotland	51-12	Zimbabwe	Murrayfield
1991	Pool B	Scotland	24-15	Ireland	Murrayfield
1991	Quarter-final	Scotland	28-6	Western Samoa	Murrayfield
1991	Semi-final	Scotland	6-9	England	Murrayfield
1991	Third-place play-off	Scotland	6-13	New Zealand	Cardiff
1995	Pool D	Côte d'Ivoire	0-89	Scotland	Rustenburg
1995	Pool D	Scotland	41-5	Tonga	Pretoria
1995	Pool D	France	22-19	Scotland	Pretoria
1995	Quarter-final	New Zealand	48-30	Scotland	Pretoria
1999	Pool 1	Scotland	29-46	South Africa	Murrayfield
1999	Pool 1	Scotland	43-12	Uruguay	Murrayfield
1999	Pool 1	Scotland	48-0	Spain	Murrayfield
1999	Quarter-final play-off	Scotland	35-20	Samoa	Murrayfield
1999	Quarter-final	Scotland	18-30	New Zealand	Murrayfield
2003	Pool B	Scotland	32-11	Japan	Townsville
2003	Pool B	Scotland	39-15	United States	Brisbane
2003	Pool B	France	51-9	Scotland	Sydney
2003	Pool B	Scotland	22-20	Fiji	Aussie Stadium
2003	Quarter-final	Australia	33-16	Scotland	Brisbane
2007	Pool C	Scotland	56-10	Portugal	Saint-Étienne
2007	Pool C	Scotland	42-0	Romania	Murrayfield
2007	Pool C	Scotland	0-40	New Zealand	Murrayfield
2007	Pool C	Scotland	18-16	Italy	Saint-Étienne
2007	Quarter-final	Argentina	19-13	Scotland	Stade de France

Individual

Gavin Hastings is by far the most successful Scottish world cup player, and has gained a number of records.

Points

Most overall points in final stages

Points	Name	Country[1]	App.	Tries	Con.	Pen.	Drop.	Tournament
227	Gavin Hastings (second position)	Scotland	13	9	39	36	–	1987, 1991, 1995

Key: App = Appearances. Con = conversions. Pen = penalties. Drop = drop goals.

Conversions

Most overall conversions in final stages

• Gavin Hastings 39 (1987-95)

Penalty goals

Most penalties in a match

• Gavin Hastings 8 (v Tonga, 1995)

Miscellaneous

Draws

•  France 20 - 20  Scotland (1987)

Note, under the current points system of rugby union, France would have beaten Scotland 23-22 in the 1987 match.

Nil points

•  Scotland 89 -0  Côte d'Ivoire (1995)
•  Scotland 48 - 0  Spain (1999)
•  Scotland 42 - 0  Romania (2007)
•  Scotland 0 - 40  New Zealand (2007)

Hosting

Scotland has not yet been the main host of the World Cup, however, a number of World Cup games have been played in Scotland over the years. When World Cups have been in the Northern Hemisphere, Scotland has hosted games. All northern hemisphere tournaments have been in Europe so far.

Second World Cup - 1991: England/Wales/Scotland/Ireland/France

The 1991 Rugby World Cup final was played in England, pool and finals games were played all over the main five European nations. Pool B games, which involved European nations, Scotland and Ireland, had all their games in either Dublin or Edinburgh with one game being played in Ulster.

Fourth World Cup - 1999: Wales

The 1999 World Cup was hosted by Wales with some games spread across Scotland, England, Ireland and France. All Pool A games were held in Scotland. Second round play-offs and the quarter-finals were held at a variety of European venues.

Sixth World Cup - 2007: France

The 2007 competition was held in France, with some games played in Wales and Scotland. Two Pool C matches were held at Edinburgh's Murrayfield.^[2]

2015

The host for the 2015 tournament has yet to be decided. Bids have been received from Australia, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.

2019

The host for the 2019 tournament has yet to be decided. Bids have been received from Australia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Russia, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.

References

1. ^ Refers to country that player represented in the World Cup.
2. ^ "Scotland looks to give up World cup matches at Murrayfield". worldcupweb.com. http://www.worldcupweb.com/WCrugby/content/show_article.asp?id=461&cat=2. Retrieved 7 May 2006.