2019 RWC qualification kicks off

St Vincent and the Grenadines will host Jamaica in the first 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifier on 5 March. More than 90 teams from across six continents will compete in more than 200 matches to qualify for the tournament, including emerging rugby markets Brazil, Russia, India, China, USA and Mexico. The 2019 event will take place in Japan.





With 12 teams having secured their place at Japan 2019 courtesy of finishing in the top three of their respective pools, the remaining eight places will be determined by a process of regional and cross-regional qualifiers and, for the first time, a stand-alone round-robin repechage tournament to determine the final qualifier in 2018.

(Repechage is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round.)