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Rugby World Cup 2007, a mega sporting event is being anxiously waited by the sports buffs. This competition will be the sixth Rugby World Cup in the league of quadrennial world championship.The Rugby World Cup 2007 host city is France who won the rights in 2003 .England was its contender in bidding for the host city for the tournament which ensues from September 7,2007 and will continue till October 20 , 2007.
The regional qualifying competition started in 2004 and over 90 nations were participants in that . The eight teams who were in quarter finals in 2003 got automatic entry. Apart from these twelve nations have also qualified. The only debutant nation in Rugby World Cup 2007 is Portugal . The regional qualifiers will fill ten out of twenty positions in the tournament. The additional two position will be decided by repechage matches. There are five different groups ; Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania in the regional qualifying tournaments .
There will be 48 matches over a period of 44 days. Ten cities in France will be the venue for forty-two matches while the last four matches are slated to be held at Cardiff, Wales and two matches will be hosted in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Names of the major venues of Rugby World Cup 2007 are
Chaban-Delmas Stadium in Bordeaux,
Murrayfield Edunburg,
Millenium Stadium in Cardiff,
Felix-Bollaert at Lens,
Parc des Princes in Paris,
Stada de Franca in Saint Dennis,
La Beaujoire in Nantes,
Gerland in Lyons,
Geoffroy-Guichard at Saint Etienne,
La Mosson at Montpellier,
Velodrome in Marseilles
Stadium de Toulouse in Toulouse.
There are three phases for ticket distribution in Rugby World Cup 2007 , the first one was in November 2005,second was in September 2006 and the third phase was in November 2006. Ticket sale is done in packs and there are team packs and city packs .
The tournament commences on September 7, 2007 at Stade de France and the first match will be played between hosts France and Argentina. The final match will also be played at the same venue . The winner will be awarded the Webb Ellis Cup.
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