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RWC 2019 is history. This year’s tournament is already receiving labeling from senior World Rugby officials as the greatest of all-time. In four years time attention will be highly focused on France with nine venues set to stage a tournament promising to be the highest attended of all RWCs thus far.
The Rugby World Cup has a 32-year history with France 2023 set to be the 10th edition of the men’s tournament. A decision from World Rugby saw the men’s and women’s tournaments both operating as the Rugby World Cup. There is no longer a gender nomination to distinguish the women’s and men’s tournaments.
The changes see the women’s Rugby World Cup being played in 2021 as the Rugby World Cup and it will operate on a four year cyclical basis. The men’s Rugby World Cup will thereby continue to be played on a two year interval between the women’s tournament.
To clarify further RWCs 2027, and 2031 are the men’s Rugby World Cup tournaments. France 2o23 is to take place two years after New Zealand 2021 which is the next edition of the women’s tournament.
RWCs 2027 and 2031 hosting rights are to be decided via a dual bidding process. This is a repeat of how the hosting countries of RWCs 2015 and 2019 were determined.
By having two decided at the same time it enabled a pathway to having a proven financial power host one and a new-comer which may be deemed a risk to host the other. This was how England 2015 and Japan 2019 were viewed by many though Japan 2019 proved to notably humble the critics.
France 2023 will be the highest grossing RWC on record. The market in the country will see it smashing records. Attendances are to also surpass all prior tournaments. Unlike New Zealand 2011, England 2015, and Japan 2019, there are no stadiums with a capacity of under 20,000. France’s smallest is to be Toulouse which has a seating capacity of 33,150.
RWC 2023 will continue the cyclical repetition of the UK, Ireland, or France hosting the RWC every eight years. This signifies an unlikelihood of RWC 2027 also being played in Europe. Thus far Argentina, and Australia have stated their intentions to bid.
In addition to the Rugby Championship rivals South Africa is another who will consider bidding. The country had failed bids for RWCs 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023. In the event that all three were to bid there is no guarantee that RWC 2027 will be a Southern Hemisphere tournament.
World Rugby have openly backed a bid from the USA. 2031 rather than 2023 has been the noted year. This being the case then a bid from Italy or Ireland for 2027 could certainly be green-lit as the host nation on the basis of determining that RWC 2031 would be in a new market.
The official dual bidding process for RWCs 2027 and 2031 is to begin in late 2020. Between now and then there will be a number of countries confirming their interest in obtaining hosting rights. One union to have done so recently is Russia. A RWC in the world’s largest country has been slated to operate by using the 2018 FIFA World Cup venues.
The process to determine who hosts both the 2027 and 2031 tournaments will be lengthy. All interested unions will establish publicly accessible models demonstrating their means to host and what makes their respective cases compelling.
The country-wide use of venues by Los Pumas combined with additional factors ranging from domestic infrastructure to performances at RWCs make Argentina a strong option.
From North America the move to professionalism in Major League Rugby offers a platform from which to host a RWC. By loosely utilizing MLR host cities there is a potential hosting model which may, or not, include Canada.
