RWC 2019 Teams Home Venues per Nation – A Comparison

In eight months time RWC 2019 will have begun. The tournament kicks-off with Japan vs Russia in Tokyo on Friday September 20. 

The 20 countries who will play at rugby’s showcase tournament are from all of the defined regions. The Americas has four of the participants, two either side of the Panama canal. How do their hosting of home internationals compare to one another and to the remaining 16 competitors? Do they spread home games and how so compared to the world’s best?

The following study looks at the hosting of home internationals since the previous RWC. Excluded are fixtures in ones country involving not involving the home side. As such recent matches such as Ireland vs Italy and South Africa vs Wales in Chicago and Washington DC are not considered. Also excluded are matches not involving the test sides of both the home and away team. Argentina XV games are excluded for this reason.

Americas

Between RWC 2015 and now Canada has played host to 15 rugby test matches. They have been spread from east to west with Halifax, Nepean, Hamilton, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Langford and Vancouver all hosting matches. Langford leads the way with four home matches. 

The USA had 13 home matches, and like Canada they were played in a variety of venues nationwide. Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, and San José have all hosted home capped internationals. Austin and Sacramento hosted two matches each, the remainder each had one test match.

Uruguay had 11 home matches with them being played in two locations – Montevideo and Punta del Este. The Estadio Charrúa had 8 of these matches though the figures are impacted based on matches against the Argentina XV in other cities not counting. 

Rounding out the Americas is Argentina. Los Pumas have a longstanding record of moving matches. This has not been altered since entering the Rugby Championship in 2012. In the three years of international competition of 2016-2018 Argentina hosted 17 test matches. They were spread around 8 cities – Buenos Aires, Jujuy, Mendoza, Resistencia, Salta, Santa Fé, San Juan, Tucumán. Of them Buenos Aires, Salta, and Santa Fé each had one match per year.

Asia-Pacific

The RWC 2019 hosts Japan had 15 home internationals. They were spread around eight venues – Kobe, Kanagawa, Kumamoto, Oita, Shizuoka, Toyota, Tokyo, and Yokohama. Of them Tokyo had the lion’s share with seven of the matches. 

Of the Pacific Islands Fiji was the country with the most home internationals. Fiji had 8 home matches, 7 of which were played at the National Stadium in Suva. The remaining fixture took place in Lautoka against Tonga in June 2018.

Tonga had just two home internationals. Both were played in Nuku A’lofa in June 2018. The fixtures against Fiji and Samoa brought to an end a staggering period dating back to June 2009 of no test matches in Tonga.

Samoa hosted five international matches from 2016-2018. All of them were played in the national capital of Apia. Like Tonga the country has a tiny population with Apia being the only city with more than 7,000 inhabitants. 

Australia has been busy with 19 home matches. They have taken place in 6 cities – Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. It is one less than New Zealand with 20 home matches played across 7 cities – Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, New Plymouth, Hamilton and Wellington.

Africa

Rounding out the Rugby Championship countries is South Africa. The Springboks had Zealand 18 home internationals and played them in 7 cities – Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria.

Neighbors Namibia played host to 10 test matches from 2016-2018. All of the games were played in the national capital of Windhoek. In fact dating back to independence in 1990 all of Namibia’s recorded home test matches were played in the capital.

Europe

Challenged by a severe climate rugby’s international windows are not friendly for Russia. Uruguay’s spring fixture in 2014 was in Krasnoyarsk. But from 2016-2018 no home test matches have been in Siberia. Instead Russia’s 9 home tests have been split between the southern cities of Krasnodar (4), and Sotchi (5).

Georgia have hosted 15 home test matches of which all but two have been played in Tbilisi. The two remaining fixtures were split between Kutaisi and Rustavi.

Italy has played host to 16 test matches, 7 of which were in Rome as part of the Six Nations. Rome also hosted the All Blacks twice. Catania, Florence, Padoa complete the list giving Italy 4 home venues over the 2016-2018 period.

France has hosted 17 test matches with 14 of them being in Paris. Marseilles received a Six Nations match against Italy, an extreme rarity. Both Lille, and Toulouse each hosted one test match giving France home matches across 4 cities.

Home Unions

England had 19 home matches all of which were played at London’s Twickenham Stadium. It continues the long standing pattern which saw England vs Uruguay at RWC 2015 as the only home game in another city since before RWC 1999. In September this year England will host Italy in Newcastle. 

In the western UK Wales is comparable. All 19 of Wales’ home matches from 2016-2018 were at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Of 132 home internationals from 1999-2018 all but two were at the same location. The exceptions saw Wrexham hosting Romania in 2002 and 2003. 

Scotland had 16 home games from 2016-2018. 15 of them were played at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. The 2016 home match against Georgia is the exception with it having been played in Kilmarnock.

Ireland hosted 17 games all of which were at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road Stadium. The last time a venue outside of Dublin hosted a test was in 2008 when Ireland faced Canada in Limerick. At that point in time the regular home was under reconstruction which saw Croke Park used until 2010. 

Conclusion

Overall the Americas do very well in spreading matches. Of the four only Uruguay has an official national home venue. Yet as shown above Los Teros have played more out of Montevideo than many others. 

Argentina, Canada, and the USA are all far larger than Uruguay with them being among the biggest countries in the world. Size, though is far from being a determiner as evidenced by New Zealand, and Japan.

Future patterns are likely to follow the established model per country. Possible exceptions are France, Italy who have historically played in a larger variety of cities than in the 2016-2018 period.