Romania’s second row, Stefan Iancu, is officially the tallest player at this World Cup in France, he stands at 2.10m! In contrast, Irish scrum-half Craig Casey is the smallest at 1.65 m. For the record, the two players could cross paths on the field since Ireland faces Romania on September 9 at Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux.
They are only three players to have played in five World Cups. The first was the Samoan Brian Lima (1991-2007), nicknamed the “Chiropractor” for the hardness of his tackles, before two Italians also succeeded: Mauro Bergamasco (1999-2015) and Sergio Parisse (2003-2019 ). The former number 8 passed by the Stade Français Paris and Toulon has long dreamed of being able to play a sixth and last World Cup, but the coach of the Nazionale, Kieran Crowley, did not give him this gift …
This is the record set by South African opener Jannie de Beer who had slammed 5 drops in the quarter-final against England in 1999 with a score of 44-21.
The record for World Cup tries – 15 – is shared by two rugby legends: former All Blacks winger Jonah Lomu and Springboks winger Bryan Habana (2007-2015). Only the latter, who played for RC Toulon, managed to lift the Webb-Ellis Cup in 2007.
Stade Toulousain is the Top 14 club that will have the most representatives at the World Cup. In addition to the ten French internationals (Baille, Aldegheri, Marchand, Mauvaka, Flament, Cros, Jelonch, Dupont, Jaminet, Ramos), the most successful club in French rugby also supplies players to Argentina (Santiago Chocobares and Juan Cruz Mallia), Australia (Richie Arnold), England (Jack Willis) Italy (Ange Capuozzo), New Zealand (Nepo Laulala) and Tonga (Pita Ahki). And Toulouse could have had 18 participants in the World Cup if Romain Ntamack had not been seriously injured… The record in this area is held by the Chilean club Selknam Rugby, in Santiago, since 27 of the 30 Chilean players evolve there. This will be the first time this year that this South American country has played in the Rugby World Cup.
English prop Jason Leonard (1991-2003) and New Zealand flanker Richie McCaw (2003-2015) are the two players to have played the most matches in the World Cup (22). Both have competed in four World Championships. Leonard was crowned world champion in 2003 and McCaw won two titles in 2011 and 2015.
Crowned world champion for the third time in 2019, South Africa is, this year, the oldest team in the competition with an average age of 30.4 years per player. The Springboks rely, for this World Cup in France, on the backbone of players who had been titled four years ago in Japan.
Namibian Pieter Jan van Lill is the oldest player in this 10th Rugby World Cup. A final last stand for this third row, who wore the colors of Aviron Bayonnais between 2015 and 2020, before playing at Valence Romans then at Capbreton-Hossegor Rugby (Regional 2) since 2022. This will be his fourth World Cup. A hell of a performance.
The record for points scored by the same team in a World Cup match is held by New Zealand, which atomized Japan (145-17) during the group stage of the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. During this meeting, Mark Ellis broke the record for tries scored in a game (6) and Simon Culhane the number of points scored by a player in a game (45).
Heavy on the scales. Tonga prop Ben Tameifuna is the heaviest player to take part in this World Cup. The UBB player, who played for Racing 92, weighs 148 kg! France is not left out, since Uini Atonio comes in second position with 145 kg. Note that its two players play as right pillar. It helps to calm the scrum…
