 The Webb Ellis Cup is the prize presented to winners of the Rugby World Cup , named after William Webb Ellis . The trophy is also referred to simply as the Rugby World Cup . The trophy was chosen in 1987 as an appropriate cup for use in the competition , and was created in 1906 by Garrard 's Crown Jewellers . The trophy is restored after each game by fellow Royal Warrant holder Thomas Lyte . The words ' The International Rugby Football Board ' and ' The Webb Ellis Cup ' are engraved on the face of the cup . It stands thirty @-@ eight centimetres high and is silver gilded in gold , and supported by two cast scroll handles , one with the head of a satyr , and the other a head of a nymph . In Australia the trophy is colloquially known as " Bill " — a reference to William Webb Ellis . 
