After the Pool stage of the 10th Rugby World Cup concluded, all of the records that WERE broken

Good reading, after the Pool stage of the 10th Rugby World Cup concluded, we have collected all of the records that WERE broken so far, and updated the records that could potentially still be broken at this year’s tournament. 

To highlight a few records broken, New Zealand became the first nation to win 50 matches at the RWC, however, their streak of having won all of their pool matches at the RWC since the tournament’s inception in 1987 came to an end after their loss in the Pool stages against France.

 On the other hand, Australia broke their 35 year-long streak of advancing to at least quarter-finals in every Rugby World Cup since its inception, and Namibia extended their record as the nation with the most matches played at the RWC without winning a single one (26 losses).

 From individual records, Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) broke the record for the most overall winning appearances in RWC (now 21), and most appearances in general (now 23), while Handré Pollard (South Africa) entered the top 5 of the most overall points across all players and tournaments with a potential to climb up in the rankings in the upcoming matches. 

To see the details of the abovementioned records broken as well as additional records that were & could be broken at this year’s tournament, please have a look below. 

INDIVIDUAL & OVERALL RECORDS BROKEN 

• Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) broke his third place tie with Sonny Bill Williams (New Zealand) for the most winning appearances (18) and he moved past Kevin Meleamu (19 winning appearances, New Zealand) and Richie McCaw (20 winning appearances, New Zealand) – since New Zealand won 3 matches in Pool A, Whitelock is now the player with the most winning appearances with 21 and the potential to increase his lead in the upcoming matches of the Quarter-finals.

• Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) also broke the record for the most match appearances, previously held by Jason Leonard (England) and Richie McCaw (New Zealand) with 22 appearances each – Whitelock had 19 appearances before the 2023 RWC, now he has 23 and he will increase his lead, depending on how far New Zealand gets in the upcoming matches.
  
• Handré Pollard (South Africa) entered the top 5 of the most overall points across all players and tournaments, tying for the 5th place with New Zealand’s Grant Fox at 170 points (and the potential to increase his number of points in the upcoming matches).
  
• Henry Arundell (England) joined Chris Latham (Australia) and Josh Lewsey (England) as the player with the second most tries in one match (5), second only to to New Zealand’s Marc Ellis with 6 tries – Arundell’s 5 tries were achieved during England’s match with Chile; Darcy Graham (Scotland) also joined a list of 12 other players who achieved 4 tries in one match (Graham did so in the match against Romania).
  
• George Ford (England) tied 3 other players for second place as the player with the most drop goals in a match (3) which was achieved during England’s match against Argentina; since England is still in the tournament, Ford might also climb up in the rankings for the most goal drops in one World Cup tournament where the record is held by Jonny Wilkinson (England) with 8 drop goals in the 2003 World Cup.
  
• PJ Van Lill (Namibia) and Aranos Coetzee (Namibia) climbed up in the rankings for the most losing appearances in the RWC – Van Lill is now tied for 2nd place with 2 other players (12 losing appearances) and Coetzee is right behind him with 11 losing appearances alongside 7 other players.
  
• Wayne Barnes became the first referee to officiate in five editions of the Rugby World Cup and he extended his record as the referee with the most matches overseen (after the Pool stages, he has now overseen 25 overall matches).
  
• The match between Georgia and Portugal in Pool C became only the 4th match ever to end up in a draw at the RWC with a score of 18-18 (7th if 3 matches that were cancelled in 2019 due to a typhoon and recorded as draws would be counted as well).

INDIVIDUAL & OVERALL RECORDS THAT COULD BE BROKEN

• 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.
  
• Richie Mo’Unga (New Zealand) could climb up higher in the rankings of the players with the most overall conversions across World Cups – he is currently in 5th place with 34 overall conversions with a potential to increase this number in the upcoming matches.
  
• 5 countries that have never won the title at the Rugby World Cup still have a chance to make it a first in 2023: Wales, Argentina, Ireland, Fiji & France.
  
• New Zealand, Fiji or Argentina could join South Africa as the only nation to have won the World Cup after previously losing a match in the Pool stages; South Africa could also become the only country to do so twice since they lost a Pool match against Ireland. 
  
• No coach has ever won the Rugby World Cup with a nation besides their own – after the Pool stages which eliminated 7 countries with foreign coaches, 3 countries in the tournament are now being led by foreign coaches, so if any of them win, that would make it a first (Argentina, Ireland & 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 left in the tournament win, that would be a first (countries still in the tournament from Pool D: England, Argentina).

SOUTH AFRICA 

RECORDS BROKEN:

• South Africa extended its 28 year-long streak of advancing to at least the quarter-finals in every Rugby World Cup since their first participation in 1995.

RECORDS THAT COULD BE BROKEN: 

• 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.

NEW ZEALAND 

RECORDS BROKEN: 

• New Zealand extended 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).
  
• New Zealand’s streak of having won all of their pool matches at the RWC since the tournament’s inception in 1987 (31 consecutive pool matches) ended in 2023 due to their loss against France in the first Pool A match.
  
• New Zealand became the first nation to cross the 50 matches won at the World Cup- they had won 49 matches before the tournament started, and since then they have won 3 further matches in 2023, bringing their total to 52 with the potential to increase their numbers depending on how far New Zealand gets.
  
• New Zealand extended 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 36 RWC matches.

RECORDS THAT COULD BE BROKEN: 

• 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.
  
• 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.

ENGLAND

RECORDS THAT COULD BE BROKEN: 

• 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).

AUSTRALIA

RECORDS BROKEN: 

• Australia broke 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).

FRANCE

RECORDS BROKEN: 

• France extended 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).

RECORDS THAT COULD BE BROKEN: 

• 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).
  
• 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

RECORDS BROKEN:

• 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 became the sole holder of the record since Canada failed to qualify.

ITALY

RECORDS BROKEN:

• Since Italy failed to get into the quarter-finals, it maintains its record of being the only Tier 1 country to have never made it into the quarter-finals.

NAMIBIA 

RECORDS BROKEN: 

• Namibia extended their record as the country with the most matches played at the RWC without winning a single one (26 after 2023 RWC).

METHODOLOGY 

• The records have been collected from various sources and extensively fact-checked
  
  Credit  Bettingexpert.com