Rugby World Cup 2011 Dates
Rugby World Cup 2011 is scheduled to be played in New Zealand over seven weekends, with the first RWC 2011 fixture at Eden Park in Auckland between the All Blacks and Tonga. The dates for Rugby World Cup 2011, kicking off Friday 9th September and concluding Sunday 23rd October, were chosen to coincide with the final being played over a long weekend caused by Labour Day.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup schedule includes 48 games to be contested in 12 different cities throughout New Zealand. The initial phase of World Cup 2011 will see fixtures between four Pools of five teams. Each team is scheduled to play their RWC 2011 pool counterparts once, with the two top performing teams in each pool going through to the knock-out phase of the competition.
Rugby World Cup Fixtures
The fixtures for the play-offs of Rugby World Cup 2011 have been scheduled to begin on the 8th October at 18:00 in Wellington, with the winners of Pool C taking on the runners-up from Pool D. That same evening will see the fixture between the winners of Pool B against the runners-up from Pool A in Auckland at 20:30. The third RWC 2011 qualifier is scheduled to be played between the winners of Pool D vs the runners-up from Pool C on Sunday 9th October at 18:00 in Wellington, followed by the fixture between the winners of Pool A against the runners-up from Pool B in Auckland at 20:30.
Rugby World Cup Finals Dates
The date for first semi-final of the Rugby World Cup 2011 will be Saturday October 15th at Eden Park, when the winners of the first quarter-final will compete with the winners of the second quarter-final. The 16th October is the date for the second 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final, with the winners of the third quarter-final taking on the winners of the fourth quarter final, again at Eden Park in Auckland.
The RWC 2011 Bronze Final fixture is scheduled to be played on Friday the 21st October at Eden Park, with Sunday October 23rd being the date for the all-important final of Rugby World Cup 2011, to be played at Eden Park. A complete RWC 2011 schedule, including fixtures and dates, can be seen at http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/mm/Document/Tournament/Destination/02/04/03/92/2040392_PDF.pdf
RWC 2011 Schedule Updated
The schedule for Rugby World Cup 2011 was revised following the devastating 22nd February Christchurch earthquake, when RWC tournament organisers deciding the seven fixtures scheduled to be played at Stadium Christchurch would be rescheduled to be staged at other locations in New Zealand. The 2011 Rugby World Cup will now see three of the five rescheduled Christchurch pool matches remaining in the South Island, with Invercargill, Nelson and Dunedin each hosting an extra game. The remaining two RWC 2011 fixtures were rescheduled to be played at Wellington and North Harbour, and the two quarter-final fixtures due to be played in Christchurch will be played at Eden Park.
The schedule and fixtures of Rugby World Cup 2011 will see teams from around the world training and competing in small and large communities through New Zealand, who together will make up the “Stadium of Four Million”. Each Rugby World Cup date will be an opportunity for New Zealand’s people to directly influence and impact the success of Rugby World Cup 2011.
