The
2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh
Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international
rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The
International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by
New Zealand, who defeated
France 8–7 in the
final. The defending champions,
South Africa, were eliminated by
Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event (following New Zealand in
1987 and South Africa in
1995).