2015 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification

The European Zone of qualification for the 2015 Rugby World Cup saw 31 teams competing for two places at the finals in England and one place in the Repechage playoff. Georgia and Romania qualified directly to the Rugby World Cup as Europe 1 and Europe 2, and will play in Pools C and D respectively. Russia finished third to qualify for the repechage playoff, but losing to Uruguay in the final Qualification round.^[1]

2015 Rugby World Cup – Europe qualification

Tournament details
Dates	6 October 2012 – 24 May 2014
No. of nations	31
← 2011 2019 →

31 national teams from FIRA–AER (which changed its name to Rugby Europe during the qualifying cycle) entered qualification, and two or three teams could qualify for the 2015 World Cup. The qualification format was the same as that used for 2011 competition. The teams competed in two groups of six teams, three groups of five and one group of four. There were two levels of playoff. The direct qualification to the 2015 Rugby World Cup (Round 5) took place in the 2012–2014 European Nations Cup - Division 1A, with Georgia and Romania qualifying directly to the 2015 Rugby World Cup as Europe 1 and Europe 2.

Each winning team in the 2012-2013 European Nations Cup Division 2 played off in succession, starting with the lowest two divisions. After the 2013–14 season, the winning team from Division 2 (Netherlands) played off against the winner of Division 1B (Germany). Germany won this match and played off against Russia, who finished third in Division 1A. Russia won this match and qualified for the repechage. No team from the 2012–14 3rd division tournament was eligible to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.

The 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying teams that competed for the 2015 Rugby World Cup – European qualification. (World rankings, shown in brackets, are to first European qualification match on 6 October 2012)

•  Austria (84)
•  Andorra (62)
•  Belgium (23)
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina (87)
•  Bulgaria (79)
•  Croatia (44)
•  Czech Republic (40)
•  Denmark (61)
•  Finland (96)
•  Georgia (15)
•  Germany (31)
•  Greece (NR)
•  Hungary (85)
•  Israel (56)
•  Latvia (72)
•  Lithuania (36)
•  Luxembourg (95)
•  Malta (45)
•  Moldova (34)
•  Netherlands (47)
•  Norway (93)
•  Poland (28)
•  Portugal (26)
•  Romania (18)
•  Russia (19)
•  Serbia (73)
•  Slovenia (81)
•  Spain (20)
•  Sweden (38)
•   Switzerland (52)
•  Ukraine (30)

Qualified nations

•  England (Automatic qualifier)
•  France (Automatic qualifier)
•  Georgia (Europe 1)
•  Ireland (Automatic qualifier)
•  Italy (Automatic qualifier)
•  Romania (Europe 2)
•  Scotland (Automatic qualifier)
•  Wales (Automatic qualifier)

Round 1A: European Nations Cup Division 2D 2012–13

The winner of Round 1A, Luxembourg, advanced to the Round 1 Final to play the winner of Division 2C, Slovenia. The other four teams were eliminated from Rugby World Cup qualifying.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Luxembourg	4	3	0	1	74	62	+12	0	12	Advances to Round 1 Final
2	Norway	4	2	0	2	65	48	+17	3	11
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	2	0	2	78	71	+7	2	10
4	Greece	4	2	0	2	61	64	−3	1	9
5	Finland	4	1	0	3	45	78	−33	2	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points; Draw - 2 points; 4 or more tries - 1 point ;Loss within 7 points - 1 point; Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Matches[2]

6 October 2012 15:00 EEST (UTC+03) (1 BP) Finland  14–16  Luxembourg Stats[3] Myllypuro Sports Park, Helsinki Referee: Michael Vestorp (Denmark) 20 October 2012 15:00 CEST (UTC+02) (1 BP) Norway  32–3  Finland Stats[4] Bislett Stadion, Oslo Referee: Kacper Michalkiewicz (Poland) 3 November 2012 15:00 CET (UTC+01) Norway  11–9  Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 BP) Stats[5] Fana Stadion, Bergen Referee: Ramonas Grumbinas (Lithuania) 10 November 2012 15:00 CET (UTC+01) Luxembourg  15–8  Norway (1 BP) Stats[6] Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg Attendance: 700 Referee: Christophe Secat (Switzerland) 17 November 2012 14:30 CET (UTC+01) Greece  22–17  Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 BP) Stats[7] Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Thessaloniki Referee: Afonso Nogueira (Portugal) 30 March 2013 14:30 EET (UTC+02) (1 BP) Greece  11–13  Finland Stats[8] Dasos Haidariou Municipal Stadium, Athens Attendance: 300 Referee: Csaba Priskin (Hungary) 13 April 2013 14:00 CEST (UTC+02) Bosnia and Herzegovina  33–23  Luxembourg Stats[9] Stadion Tosk, Tešanj Attendance: 800 Referee: Alan Falzone (Italy) 13 April 2013 15:00 EEST (UTC+03) Greece  21–14  Norway (1 BP) Stats[10] Dasos Haidariou Municipal Stadium, Athens Referee: Ariel Cabral (Israel) 20 April 2013 16:00 CEST (UTC+02) Luxembourg  20–7  Greece Stats[11] Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg Attendance: 500 Referee: Christian Doering (Denmark) 20 April 2013 14:00 CEST (UTC+02) Bosnia and Herzegovina  19–15  Finland (1 BP) Stats[12] Bilino Polje, Zenica Referee: Paulo Duarte (Portugal)

Round 1B: European Nations Cup Division 2C 2012–13

The winner of Round 1B, Slovenia, advanced to Round 1 Final and will play the winner of Division 2D, Luxembourg. The other three teams were eliminated from Rugby World Cup qualifying.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovenia	3	2	0	1	44	47	−3	2	10	Advances to Round 1 Final
2	Hungary	3	2	0	1	46	41	+5	1	9
3	Bulgaria	3	2	0	1	55	49	+6	1	9
4	Austria	3	0	0	3	37	45	−8	3	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points; Draw - 2 points; 4 or more tries - 1 point ;Loss within 7 points - 1 point; Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Matches[13]

6 October 2012 14:00 CEST (UTC+02) Hungary  28–23  Bulgaria (1 BP) Stats[14] Széktói Stadion, Kecskemét Referee: Jean-Luc Rebollal (France) 20 October 2012 14:00 EEST (UTC+03) Bulgaria  12–7  Austria (1 BP) Stats[15] National Sports Academy, Sofia Referee: Gia Amirkhanashvili (Georgia) 27 October 2012 15:00 CEST (UTC+02) Slovenia  8–7  Hungary (1 BP) Stats[16] Oval Stanezici, Ljubljana Attendance: 400 Referee: George Kaloxilos (Georgia) 6 April 2013 16:00 CEST (UTC+02) (1 BP) Austria  10–11  Hungary Stats[17] Cards: Andre Brand  21' Gareth Lloyd  25' Sportanlage Dirnelwiese, Vienna Attendance: 500 Referee: Stepan Cekal (Czech Republic 6 April 2013 14:00 EEST (UTC+03) Bulgaria  20–14  Slovenia (1 BP) Stats[18] National Sports Academy, Sofia Attendance: 500 Referee: Sergii Poplavskyi (Ukraine) 20 April 2013 14:00 CEST (UTC+02) (1 BP) Slovenia  22–20  Austria (1 BP) Stats[19] Oval Stanezici, Ljubljana Referee: Iñaki Atorrasagasti (Spain)

Round 1 Final

Luxembourg, the winner of Round 1A, defeated Slovenia, the winner of Round 1B, to advance to Round 2 Final to play Israel.

5 May 2013 16:00 CEST (UTC+02)

Luxembourg	22–10	Slovenia
	Report[20]

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Attendance: 800 Referee: Claudio Blessano (Italy)

Round 2A: European Nations Cup Division 2B 2012–13

The winner of Round 2A, Israel, advanced to Round 2 Final to play the winner of Round 1. The other four teams were eliminated from Rugby World Cup qualifying.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Israel	4	4	0	0	137	45	+92	3	19	Advances to Round 2 Final
2	Latvia	4	2	0	2	85	82	+3	3	11
3	Denmark	4	1	1	2	62	79	−17	1	7
4	Andorra	4	1	1	2	48	77	−29	0	6
5	Serbia	4	1	0	3	84	133	−49	2	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points; Draw - 2 points; 4 or more tries - 1 point; Loss within 7 points - 1 point; Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Matches[21]

13 October 2012 15:00 CEST (UTC+02) Denmark  6–6  Andorra Stats[22] Odense Atletikstadion, Odense Attendance: 500 Referee: Mike Hoyer (Netherlands) 13 October 2012 14:00 (IST) (UTC+02) (1 BP) Israel  48–22  Serbia Stats[23] Wingate Institute, Netanya Referee: Frank Himmer (Germany) 27 October 2012 15:00 CEST (UTC+02) Andorra  5–26  Israel (1 BP) Stats[24] M.I.C.G., Andorra la Vella Referee: Ken Lambrechts (Belgium) 27 October 2012 14:00 CEST (UTC+02) (1 BP) Serbia  39–21  Latvia Stats[25] Stadion Milicionar, Belgrade Referee: Sergii Poplavskyi (Ukraine) 3 November 2012 14:00 EET (UTC+02) (1 BP) Latvia  27–15  Denmark Stats[26] Daugava Stadium, Riga Referee: Ucha Narimanidze (Georgia) 3 November 2012 14:00 CET (UTC+01) (1 BP) Serbia  23–26  Andorra Stats[27]