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Australia to host two Rugby World Cups

Wallabies celebrate a Taniela Tupou try during the 2020 Tri-Nations match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium on November 07, 2020 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

Australia will host the men’s 2027 and women’s 2029 Rugby World Cups in a game-changer for the cash-strapped code Down Under.

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The World Rugby Council formally granted Australia staging rights for the two global showpieces following a final vote in Dublin on Thursday.

Australia had been all but certain to earn both tournaments after previously gaining preferred host status in the streamlined bid process.

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Dillyn Leyds | Le French Rugby Podcast | Episode 28

We chat to La Rochelle’s South Africa international Dillyn Leyds ahead of the all-French Champions Cup quarter-final against Montpellier to find out about Ronan O’Gara’s spikiness, how he ended up in the west of France instead of South West London and his chances of a Springbok recall. Plus, we look at the madness of the Top 14 where still nobody is guaranteed a play-off place with two rounds to go, look ahead to all of the Champions Cup quarter-finals and we pick our MEATER Moment of the Week…
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Dillyn Leyds | Le French Rugby Podcast | Episode 28

We chat to La Rochelle’s South Africa international Dillyn Leyds ahead of the all-French Champions Cup quarter-final against Montpellier to find out about Ronan O’Gara’s spikiness, how he ended up in the west of France instead of South West London and his chances of a Springbok recall. Plus, we look at the madness of the Top 14 where still nobody is guaranteed a play-off place with two rounds to go, look ahead to all of the Champions Cup quarter-finals and we pick our MEATER Moment of the Week…
Use the code FRENCHPOD20 at checkout for 20% off any full price item at Meater.com
Head over to daysbrewing.com and use the code RUGBYPASS15 to get 15% off a case of their 0.0% beers

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit up in green and gold at 6 pm in anticipation before Rugby Australia (RA) received the confirmation it was anxiously awaiting almost three hours later.

Wallabies legend Tim Horan, a two-time World Cup winner, tweeted the announcement marked “the most significant moment in Australian rugby history since winning the RWC in 1991 that put rugby on the map in Oz”.

RA boss Andy Marinos estimated the two World Cups could bring between $50 and 60 million to the cash-strapped governing body and help return the sport to its glory days in Australia.

That forecast came after the organisation considered reverting to amateur status when it recorded a net deficit of $27.1 million for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“It sets us up for what I think is going to be a golden age of rugby in this country,” RA president David Codey said.

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper and Wallaroos skipper Shannon Parry said hosting the two events would inspire a new generation of young players.

“It’s pretty special,” Hooper said.

“The runway from this all comes together in the next 10 years of rugby. Not only with these World Cups but the (Brisbane 2032) Olympics with rugby’s involvement in the Olympics and what that looks like.

“It’s a pretty good time to be a young rugby player or looking to play rugby.”

Australian Women’s Rugby president Josephine Sukkar said “the impact of what this means, not just for Australia but for the region” couldn’t be overstated.

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“The legacy this will create for Australia, the increase in participants. We expect more than 30,000 more men and women participating in the game,” Sukkar said.

Parry expected hosting a women’s World Cup in Australia for the first time would lure young girls to the game in the same way the women’s Sevens team did after striking gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“Off the back of 2016, it really created a pathway and a bit of a legacy for these young girls to aspire to,” Parry said.

“To think, we’ve got a Commonwealth Games as well (in Victoria in 2026). It’s a massive pathway and trajectory to get girls into rugby.

“It’s really exciting. If you’re 15, 16, come five, six, seven years time, you’re probably going to be in that Wallaroos team.”

The 2027 men’s edition will come 24 years after the Wallabies reached the final the last time Australia hosted the tournament and is expected to feature between eight and 10 match venues.

Many other locations will serve as training bases, while ar t, wine and food trails will be among the lures set to attract tourists seeking more from their experience than rugby.

All told, the 2027 event is projected to attract more than two million people across seven weeks of competition, including 200,000 international visitors, and generate a $2.5 billion boost for the economy.

Organisers said it would create 13,300 jobs and stimulate $500 million in new trade and investment.

The back-to-back World Cups in Australia will follow the 2023 RWC in France and the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia in 2025.

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J
Jfp123 19 minutes ago
France push All Blacks to 80th minute in narrow Dunedin defeat

Sorry, I don’t think all your points hold water.


You agree that the Top14 was sticking within the rules. Describing it as ‘attack’ing international rugby isn’t fair. It’s simply doing it’s own thing, which benefits many other rugby nations too, more of which below. NZ rugby has one system of earning money, the French have another, and it looks to me like theirs is more successful, but that’s no reason to try and shoot it down. Unlike some NZ commentators, I haven’t heard any of the French expressing the wish to interfere with how NZ organise their domestic competition and finances. Different circumstances require different arrangements.


The way you talked about earning money from home internationals, it sounds as if you think the French B team are depriving NZ of income. Really? Instead accusing the French of acting badly, wouldn’t it be better to think of ways of improving the NZ system, even it’s just being more careful who’s invited on tour. It’s well known France never send out their top players in summer.


In any case, the charge of loss of income doesn’t seem to be backed by the facts. As far as I’m aware there haven’t been any complaints about the size of the TV deal. It’s been reported that the NZ- France summer internationals are sell outs, and since you or another New Zealander - I can’t remember which set of comments it was - was complaining about how outrageously high the ticket prices are, it doesn’t sound as if NZ rugby has lowered prices and been hit in the pocket - NZ can’t have it both ways.


If NZ were to have a rethink and follow the example of SA and Scotland to allow players who sign on with a Top14 team to play for the ABs, I think NZ could use the Top14 for its own benefit. Players often improve through being exposed to different approaches, and previously hidden talent can come to light. Cheslin Kolbe was overlooked by the SA main team, until his immense talent was showcased during his time at Toulouse. More recently, Jack Willis and Blair Kinghorn have both acknowledged that Toulouse has helped them broaden and develop their skills - Willis has done quite a lot of interviews which are freely accessible online, if you want to hear what he says. Scotland have benefited, but England haven’t because of their self-imposed rules. From what Willis said around the time of the WC when he had special dispensation to play for England in consideration of the Wasps debacle, it seems Toulouse encourage their foreign players in their international ambitions, rather than acting as an insurmountable obstacle.


I don’t see where your point about home grown talent is coming from. The vast majority of the French team IS home grown talent. Listen to Squidge’s or 2 Cents podcasts on the subject before the last WC. Mauvaka and Moefana both were born in islands which are part of a French overseas territory, came to France young, trained there and have French nationality, Meafou was rejected by Aussie clubs as too large, and was advised to go to France where they appreciate size to get an opportunity to continue his career - do you think he should have been left on the scrap heap in Oz? The only French international I can think of who came from NZ is Uini Atonio, he doesn’t seem to have been appreciated in NZ and has played his entire senior club career at La Rochelle, where he’ll become a player/coach next season; he’s actually of Samoan heritage. I’ve read that NZ was interested in Patrick Tuifua, but he was born in the French territory of New Caledonia, not NZ and is moving to Toulon. Marchand, Aldegheri, Baille, Gros, Cros, Jelonche, Alldritt, Ollivon, Dupont, Penaud, LBB Lucu, Ramos, Fikou, Barrassi, Villiere etc, are all indisputably French, Ntamack is French on his mother’s side, 2nd generation French on his father’s side and has played for Toulouse since infancy, Pasolo Tuilagi has lived in France since the age of 3 and is French, similarly Joshua Brennan. I believe they have both declared their desire to play for the country where they grew up, not Samoa or Ireland. Flament, it’s true, is from Belgium, but his talents could hardly have flourished fully in a team which almost certainly isn’t fully professional. A rugby side is 15 with 8 on the bench in France as everywhere else, packed with all these talented native players, they’re not going to suck the life out of other nations. In fact, there’s a counter example. Capuozzo was born and raised in France, and I’ve heard it said both that he began playing for Italy is because he didn’t think he’d make the French team, or alternatively, that he preferred to play for the country of his paternal grandparents.


I can’t see why you say NZ, England and Ireland are more homegrown than that. De Groot, Lomax (Aus), Frizzell, Fainga’anuku (Tonga) and Christie (Scotland) and other ABs weren’t born in NZ, some of them played for other countries at U20 level, and isn’t your new guy from the Netherlands? England welcomes players born abroad, eg Manu Tuilagi, and Feyi Waboso (born and grew up in Wales who could really do with his talent). And as for Ireland, they are arguably the least home grown of the lot, as Jamison Gibson Park, James Lowe, Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen were not only not born in Ireland, they weren’t brought up there either. This is not a criticism, as I don’t think it’s an issue to get hung up about.


If you’re referring to the number of foreign players in the Top14, ProD2, I reckon it’s a good thing. Players from upcoming second tier nations like Uruguay, Spain and Portugal are exposed to top flight competition and can play fulltime - where else would they get such a good chance to hone their skills? Argentina too is strengthened when it comes to the WC, even if not all their Top 14 players can play in every set of internationals - they still play in a lot of them. Then there the ex-internationals who get a chance to earn decent money before they retire, and enjoy thrill of French rugby. I reckon they deserve that and it shows good money can be earned from rugby, which must help stop talented youngsters from turning to other sports.


I don’t think the Top14 should be charged with making rugby financially unsustainable. I don’t think its existence was the reason Wasps, London Irish and Worcester Warriors went bust. Covid, the English system and the clubs themselves were to blame. I don’t think the Top 14 is the threat you think it is to other nations - the Top 14 and Pro D2 may be large and wealthy, but they’re not infinitely large mopping up all the top players from across the world, they have to obey strictly enforced rules about a compulsory number of Jiff players and a salary cap, which if you count the special allowances for marquee players etc, is comparable in size to the English one. That’s not to say some of the French clubs aren’t very rich, have excellent facilities etc., it’s just they can’t spend all their money on players wages.

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