Advertisement

Bidding for men's and women's Rugby World Cup to be integrated in one process

South Africa's Siya Kolisi celebrates with the Webb Ellis trophy in 2019  - Reuters
South Africa's Siya Kolisi celebrates with the Webb Ellis trophy in 2019 - Reuters

World Rugby has announced for the first time in over a decade that the bids for the 2027 and 2031 Rugby World Cups will be done as part of a joint process, which should open the door for non-traditional rugby nations such as the United States or smaller nations such as Ireland to mount a successful bid.

For the first time ever, the two men’s and women’s World Cups will be awarded at the same time. Nations will be able to tender to host the 2025 and 2029 women’s tournaments. The successful hosts of the four future Rugby World Cups will be announced in the summer of 2022 with the process opening in February of next year.

With regard to the men, this is the first time this has been done in over a decade when England was awarded the 2015 tournament and Japan the 2019 edition in 2009. The move to have the women’s tender process at the same time as the men’s follows after the global governing body made the decision last year to adopt gender neutral branding for future tournaments with the word “Women’s” dropped from the title of the female competition, meaning both tournaments will be officially referred to as the Rugby World Cup.

Due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, World Rugby sees this as a chance for the sport to have a 10 year strategic hosting roadmap maximising certainty for member unions, commercial partners, broadcasters and fans.

Telegraph Sport understands that World Rugby were keen to return to a bidding process for two World Cup cycles as it would allow for there to be an alternation between traditional host nations regarded as commercial bankers and then non-traditional rugby markets hosting as was the case with Japan hosting between England and France in 2023. However, Japan hosted the most financially impactful Rugby World Cup ever, generating £4.3 billion in economic activity around the tournament.

If that pattern is to follow, that means that the 2027 host could be from a non-traditional market with the United States long perceived as a favoured host destination by World. However, Argentina, although a traditional rugby nation could be another to be considered and there had been speculation of a joint bid between Argentina and Brazil. This model would also open the door for small nations like Ireland who had an unsuccessful bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.