1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying

The 1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying was held in several continental zones. Four countries qualified automatically—Wales as tournament hosts, South Africa as reigning champions, New Zealand as runners-up in the previous tournament, and France as winners of the third-place playoff in the previous tournament. Repechage was first introduced for the 1999 competition qualifying.^[1][2][3]

1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying

Tournament details
Dates	1995 – 1999
No. of nations	71
← 1995 2003 →

Tournaments

• Africa Qualification
• European Qualification
• Americas qualification
• Asia qualification
• Oceania qualification
• Repechage

Qualified teams

Europe  England (Europe 1)  France (Automatic qualifier)  Ireland (Europe 2)  Italy (Europe 4)  Romania (Europe 5)  Scotland (Europe 3)  Spain (Europe 6)  Wales (Host) Africa  South Africa (Champion)  Namibia (Africa 1)

Americas  Argentina (Americas 1)  Canada (Americas 2)  Uruguay (Repechage 2)  United States (Americas 3) Oceania  Australia (Oceania 1)  Fiji (Oceania 2)  New Zealand (Automatic qualifier)  Western Samoa (Oceania 3)  Tonga (Repechage 1) Asia  Japan (Asia 1)

Automatic qualifiers

Only the tournament hosts, as well as the two finalists and the third-place winner from the previous Rugby World Cup, were automatically qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

•  France (Third place)
•  New Zealand (Runner-up)
•  South Africa (Champion)
•  Wales (Host)

Regional qualifiers

Africa

•  Namibia (Africa 1)

Europe

•  England (Europe 1)
•  Ireland (Europe 2)
•  Scotland (Europe 3)
•  Italy (Europe 4)
•  Romania (Europe 5)
•  Spain (Europe 6)

Asia

•  Japan (Asia 1)

Americas

•  Argentina (Americas 1)
•  Canada (Americas 2)
•  United States (Americas 3)
•  Uruguay (Repechage 2)

Oceania

•  Australia (Oceania 1)
•  Fiji (Oceania 2)
•  Western Samoa (Oceania 3)
•  Tonga (Repechage 1)