By Sam Ryan

Whilst the majority of the attention is focussed on the 12 teams that qualified automatically for the Rugby World Cup, a secondary tournament has been contested over the past four years, with 84 nations playing 184 matches to determine the final eight spots at this year’s World Cup.

Fiji, Japan, USA, Georgia, Romania, Canada, Uruguay and Namibia have all earned a spot at the World Cup and whilst victory may be seldom for some, the obstacles they’ve overcome will make the journey all the more sweeter.

Join us as Rugby News takes a look at the qualifiers road to the Rugby World Cup.

Fiji (World Ranking – 9th)

After losing to South Africa, Wales and Samoa in 2011, Fiji missed out on automatic qualification for the 2015 tournament and needed to beat the winner of the 2013 Oceania Cup in a one-off match to book a spot at England 2015.

The Cook Islands beat Tahiti and the Solomon Islands comfortably in their opening two matches, before defeating Papua New Guinea 37-31 to claim the Oceania Cup.

However Fiji proved far too good in the final playoff, scoring 17 tries in a 108-6 victory to book a spot in Pool A.

Japan (World Ranking – 13th)

The Cherry Blossoms were disappointing in 2011 and were forced to qualify the hard way – competing against 17 other nations including China, India and Sri Lanka – for one automatic berth in Pool B.

Sri Lanka proved to be the big improvers in Asia, earning promotion over the United Arab Emirates to the 2014 Asian Five Nations tournament  – where Japan won all four of their matches comfortably to book a spot in Pool B.

After finishing second in the Five Nations, Hong Kong kept their World Cup hopes alive, setting up a clash against Uruguay in the semi final of the Repechage tournament.

USA (World Ranking – 15th)

The Yanks showed considerable improvement in 2011, but still didn’t do enough to qualify automatically for 2015.

The Eagles played Canada twice in 2013 for an automatic spot in Pool D, but were beaten on both occasions, forcing the US into a two-match playoff against Uruguay. Los Teros crossed late in the opening match to steal a 27-27 draw in Montevideo and led 13-3 at half time of the return bout.

However the Eagles crossed for four second half tries, three of which came in just seven minutes, and claimed a 32-13 victory to book their spot in Pool B.

Uruguay were forced to contest the repechage tournament and would play Hong Kong in the semi final.

Georgia (World Ranking – 16th)

31 teams battled for two automatic berths and one spot in the Repechage tournament, making Europe the most hotly contested of the five qualification tournaments.

Georgia, Romania, Russia, Spain, Portugal and Belgium contested the Division 1A European Nations Cup between 2012 and 2014, with the winner earning a spot in Pool C and the runners up earning a spot in Pool D. The third placed side (Russia) would face the winner of the Division 1B European Nations Cup (Germany) for a spot in the Repechage tournament.

Georgia claimed the European Nations Cup for the seventh time in eight years, winning all but one of their 10 matches – a 9-9 draw against Romania in 2013.

Third placed Russia defeated Germany 31-20 to book a clash against Zimbabwe in the semi final of the Repechage tournament.

Romania (World Ranking – 17th)

Outside of a loss and a draw in their two matches against Georgia, Romania were undefeated throughout the European Nations Cup and booked a spot in Pool D with relative ease.

Although both Georgia and Romania had already qualified for the World Cup heading into the final round, a crowd of almost 30,000 fans turned out in Tbilisi, Georgia to watch the final match of the tournament – a 22-9 victory to the Georgians.

A crowd of close to 30,000 attended a match between Georgia and Romania in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Canada (World Ranking – 18th)

Despite now being ranked 18th in the world, Canada’s road to the 2015 Rugby World Cup was relatively simple, beating the US 27-9 and 13-11 in 2013 to earn an automatic berth in Pool D.

Uruguay (World Ranking – 19th)

To say Uruguay did it the hard way is a bit of an understatement!

Los Teros defeated Chile and Brazil in the South American Rugby Championship to set up a two-match series against the US for a spot in Pool B. Uruguay scored late to steal a 27-27 draw in Montevideo and led 13-3 at half time of the return bout against the Eagles.

However the Yanks rallied in the second half, scoring four tries in a 32-13 victory, pushing Uruguay to the Repechage tournament.

With the 20th and final spot at the World Cup on the line, Los Teros defeated Hong Kong 28-3 to book a spot in a two-match final against Russia.

Russia defeated Uruguay 22-21 in the opening leg in Krasnoyarsk, however Los Teros bounced back two weeks later to claim a 36-27 victory and book their spot in the World Cup in front of more than 14,000 fans in Montevideo.

Namibia (World Ranking – 20th)

Namibia were looking to book a spot in their fifth successive World Cup and could do so by winning the 2014 Africa Cup. Whilst the qualification process began in 2012, 13 teams were culled to four for the final tournament, played in Madagascar in July last year.

Kenya upset the Namibians 29-22 in the opening match of the tournament, however the favourites bounced back to beat Zimbabwe 24-20.

Heading into the final round of the tournament, Kenya remained in the box seat to claim a spot in their first World Cup, but fell at the final hurdle – losing to Zimbabwe 28-10. Namibia needed to beat Madagascar by 53 points of more to claim the Africa Cup and did so with ease, beating the home side 89-10 in an impressive performance to book a spot Pool C.

As runners up, Zimbabwe qualified for the Repechage tournament, but were beaten by Russia in the semi final.