At the start of the 1980s, some members of the rugby hierarchy in the Southern Hemisphere began to feel rather isolated and wanted to organise a competition for all the national teams that were members of the IRB (International Rugby Board). Despite resistance from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in the UK; Australia and New Zealand had the full support of two influential and active individuals: Albert Ferrasse, President of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), who joined the IRB in 1978, and Danie ‘Doc’ Carven, Chairman of the South African federation. At an IRB meeting on April 22, 1985 in Paris, these two men managed to overcome the misgivings of their Welsh, Scottish and Irish counterparts and obtain unanimous approval for the creation of a rugby world cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand in 1987.

This new competition was an instant hit and helped develop and promote rugby around the world. The initial budget of 5.3 million euros in 1987 had risen to 203 million euros twenty years later. Over the same period, the number of fans in the stadiums rose from 604,500 to 2.2 million, and the TV audience skyrocketed from 230,000 million to 4 billion (total audience). This makes the Rugby World Cup the fourth, and even maybe the thirds, largest sporting event in the world.