Siya Could Become First Captain to Win RWC Twice and Other Interesting Records

Ahead of the 10th Rugby World Cup, Bettingexpert.com have collected a list of all of the records that could possibly be broken at this year’s tournament in France.

To highlight a few, South Africa or New Zealand could break their tie (3 wins) and become the nation with the most titles won since the tournament’s inception (4 titles), Australia could become the nation with the 2nd longest gap between two titles at the RWC (23 years, 11 months), France could get rid of their record as the only country to have appeared in the final without ever winning, debuting Chile could join South Africa and New Zealand as the countries to have won in the first year of their tournament appearance and for the first time ever, a foreign coach could lead a nation to the victory. From individual records, Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) could break the record for the most match appearances & the most winning appearances, Siya Kolisi (South Africa) could join Richie McCaw (New Zealand) as the only captain to have ever won twice and Wayne Barnes will most likely become the first referee to officiate 5 editions of the World Cup.

To see the details of the abovementioned records as well additional records that could be broken at this year’s tournament, please have a look below. You can also have a look at a graphic highlighting some of the major records to be broken below.

INDIVIDUAL & OVERALL RECORDS 

• Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) could break his third place tie with Sonny Bill Williams (New Zealand) for the most winning appearances (18) and he could move to second (19 winning appearances), the current record held by Kevin Meleamu (New Zealand) or first place (20 winning appearances – the current record held by Richie McCaw (NZ), depending on how far New Zealand progress at the World Cup – Whitelock has been announced to be part of the 2023 squad.

• Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) could also potentially break the record for the most match appearances, which is currently held by Jason Leonard (England) and Richie McCaw (New Zealand) with 22 appearances each, Whitelock currently has 19 .

• Siya Kolisi (South Africa) could become only the second player ever (and the first ever South African) to win the RWC twice as a captain – Kolisi was the captain in 2019 when South Africa won and he was announced to be the captain again in 2023 – the only player to ever win twice is Richie McCaw (New Zealand) who was winning captain in 2011 and 2015.

• Wayne Barnes will become the first referee to officiate in five editions of the Rugby World Cup and he will also extend his record as the referee with the most matches overseen (he has overseen 21 tournament matches so far).

• The 2023 tournament could mark the first time since the second edition in 1991 that a tournament has had no games with a team scoring zero points – every tournament between 1995 and 2019 has had at least one match with nil points scored by a side.

• No coach has ever won the Rugby World Cup with a nation besides their own – in 2023, 10 countries are being led by foreign coaches, so if any of them win, that would make it a first (Argentina, Chile, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Namibia, Portugal, Tonga, Uruguay, Wales).

• A side starting in Pool D has never won the RWC since the tournament’s inception in 1987, so if any of the countries from Pool D win, that would be a first (Pool D: England, Japan, Samoa, Argentina, Chile).

SOUTH AFRICA 

• South Africa could break its tie with New Zealand (3 titles) and become the sole holder of the record for the most titles won since RWC’s inception in 1987 if they win their 4th title – they previously won in 1995, 2007 and 2019.

• If South Africa gets to the final and wins, they would maintain their 100% win rate in final appearance since their first final in 1995, when they beat New Zealand (15-12 AET). However, if South Africa end up losing the final and finish second, they would join Australia and New Zealand as the only countries to have won all three medals (gold, silver and bronze).

• South Africa (2019 winners) could join New Zealand as just the second country to ever win successive World Cup titles if they win in 2023 (NZ won successive titles in 2011 and 2015).

• If South Africa make it to the final, they could extend their record as the only country to not have conceded at least one try during appearances in the final

• If they get eliminated in the pool stages, South Africa would break their 28 year-long streak of advancing to at least the quarter-finals in every Rugby World Cup since their first participation in 1995.

NEW ZEALAND 

• New Zealand could break their tie with South Africa (3 titles each) and become the sole holder of the record for the most titles won since the RWC’s inception in 1987 if they win their 4th title – they previously won in 1987, 2011 and 2015.

• If eliminated before the quarter-finals, New Zealand would break their 35 year-long streak of advancing to at least the quarter-finals in every Rugby World Cup since its inception in 1987 (shared with Australia and France).

• If New Zealand play Australia and win, they would hold a winning record in head-to-head matches each of the other nine Tier 1 countries at the Rugby World Cup – as of now, they are superior in head-to-head wins against Argentina, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales and they are equal with Australia (2 wins each).

• New Zealand could extend their record for the most RWC bronze medals if they end up in third place – they have finished third three times – 1991, 2003 & 2019.

• New Zealand could extend their record for the longest streak of scoring at least one try during a match at the RWC – they have scored at least one each of their last 32 RWC matches.

• New Zealand could maintain their record as the only nation to win all of their pool matches at the RWC (31 in total) since the tournament’s inception in 1987.

• New Zealand could become the first nation to cross the 50 matches won at the World Cup- thus far they have won 49.

AUSTRALIA

• Australia could tie South Africa and New Zealand as the country with the most RWC titles won since its inception in 1987 if they win their 3rd title – they previously won in 1991 and 1999.

• If Australia win the World Cup, they would gain the record for the second longest gap between two wins in the competition, having last triumphed in 1999, which would make their win come 23 years and 11 months later (New Zealand holds the record for the longest gap between two wins since they first won in 1987 and then 24 years and 4 months later in 2011.

• If they get eliminated before the quarter-finals, Australia would break their 35 year-long streak of advancing to at least quarter-finals in every Rugby World Cup since its inception in 1987 (shared with New Zealand and France).

ENGLAND

• England could tie Australia as the country with the second highest amount of RWC titles won (2) if they win this year – they previously won in 2003.

• England could break its tie with France for the most silver medals if they end up in second place – they placed 2nd in 1991, 2007 and 2019.

• If England end up third, they would join Australia, New Zealand as the only countries to have won all three medals (gold, silver, bronze).

FRANCE

• France could become just the third country to win the World Cup as the host of the tournament (joining New Zealand who did so twice – 1987 & 2011, and South Africa who won during their 1995 hosting duties).

• On the other hand, France could also become just the second sole host country to be eliminated in the pool stage after England were eliminated in 2015, and the third country ever if also counting Wales, who got eliminated in the pool stage in 1991 as co-hosts.

• If eliminated before the quarter-finals, France would break their 35 year-long streak of advancing to at least the quarter-finals in every Rugby World Cup since its inception in 1987 (shared with Australia and New Zealand).

• If France win the RWC, it would finally get rid of their record of being the only country to have appeared in the final of the World Cup without ever winning one (they made it to the final in 1987, 1999 and 2011, but they lost to New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand again, respectively); as of now, France is the only non-English speaking country to have made it to a final.

• France could break their tie with England for the most silver medals at the RWC if they end up in second place – they placed second in 1987, 1999 and 2011.

• If France win the RWC, they would join Australia and New Zealand as the only countries to have won all three medals (gold, silver & bronze).

JAPAN

• Until 2019, Canada and Japan shared the record for the most appearances in the World Cup for Tier 2 nations, having appeared in all of the World Cups between its inception in 1987 and 2019, but in 2023, Japan will become the sole holder of the record since Canada failed to qualify.

ITALY

• If Italy reach the quarter-finals, it would get rid of their record of being the only Tier 1 country to have never made it into the quarter-finals.

NAMIBIA 

• Namibia could extend their record as the country with the most matches played at the RWC without winning a single one (22 thus far).

ARGENTINA & CHILE

• Argentina & Chile will face off on the 30th of September, which will mark the first time that two South American sides will play against each other at the Rugby World Cup.

• Chile are debuting at this year’s World Cup – if they win, they would join New Zealand (1987) and South Africa (1995) as the only countries to ever win during their first appearance in the tournament (considering the fact that NZ was the inaugural winner).