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Level 1 – Beginner
The Rugby World Cup
The game of rugby is named after a boys' public school in England. The game started in 1823, when in the middle of a football match at Rugby School a boy called William Webb Ellis suddenly picked up the ball and started to run with it.
The Rugby World Cup competition takes place every four years. In Europe there are matches in Britain, Ireland and France. The winners of the competition take home the Webb Ellis Trophy and keep it for four years. The Rugby World Cup is a relatively new event – the first one was in 1987. It was held in New Zealand and Australia. The All Blacks from New Zealand won that first World Cup. In 1991 the competition was in Britain, and the Australians won. The most exciting World Cup final was in South Africa in 1995. It was the first time South Africa had taken part in an international rugby competition and they managed to win the Cup.
Rugby is now a professional sport and is becoming very popular worldwide. The Rugby World Cup is already the third largest sporting event after the football World Cup and the Olympic Games – altogether there are about twenty nations competing in the finals.
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Answer the questions below to check how well you understand the text.
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C2 Mastery
