South Africa set to host Rugby World Cup 2023

South Africa has been recommended to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup ahead of Ireland and France, the tournament's organising board has announced.

The World Rugby Council will convene in London on 15 November to confirm their decision as hosts for 2023. South Africa is all but guaranteed to pip Ireland and France, with World Rugby’s council unlikely to go against its board.

“The board made its recommendation following detailed consideration of the comprehensive host candidate evaluation report,” read the board’s statement. “In line with World Rugby’s mission to deliver a ground-breaking, rigorous and fully transparent host selection process for its showcase event, the report is being published today as agreed by council.”

Rugby World Cup and Société Générale Extend Worldwide Partnership

World Rugby has announced that Société Générale has renewed its long-standing worldwide partnership of Rugby World Cup™ for the 2019 event in Japan. 

The announcement, on the eve of the Rugby World Cup 2019 pool draw in Kyoto, confirms the French private bank giant as commercial partners for rugby’s premier event.

Société Générale is a major supporter of rugby worldwide from grassroots to the elite game and will also partner with the 2017 World Rugby Awards in Monaco on 26 November.

World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said:

“We are delighted to be extending our long-standing worldwide partnership with Société Générale. A brand leader, Société Générale shares values of integrity, solidarity, respect, discipline and passion with rugby, which have been evident during an association with the sport that stretches back more than 30 years.”

Société Générale Chief Executive Frédéric Oudéa praised the partnership: “This partnership reinforces a long-standing commitment to rugby and demonstrates the group’s forward-looking ambition to be a supporter of all forms of rugby, all around the world."

World Rugby to Examine Japan 2019 World Cup Preparations Ahead of Pool Draw

World Rugby will review the preparations for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Kyoto, Japan this week while also taking a look at the candidates vying to host the 2023 edition. 

Kyoto will host rugby’s decision-makers for a schedule of meetings that includes Rugby World Cup Limited Board, World Rugby EXCO and World Rugby Council meetings, culminating in the pool draw for the 2019 World Cup on Wednesday.

With Japan preparing to host Asia’s first Rugby World Cup, and the global game experiencing record participation (8.5 million) and fan-base (300 million) growth and Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 in Ireland set to inspire a new generation of players, the meetings come at an exciting time for the sport.

The Rugby World Cup Limited Board will review hosting preparation for Rugby World Cup 2019 and the latest from the candidate phase of the Rugby World Cup 2023 host selection process as the race to host rugby’s showcase event enters the home straight.

World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said: “This is an exciting and defining year for our sport as we look to further the competition and regulatory framework that will provide the platform for rugby to continue to sustainably grow in both established and emerging markets.

“Set against a backdrop of strong participation and fan growth, we have achieved agreement on a long-term optimised global calendar that provides certainty and stability over the decade beyond Rugby World Cup 2019, which is a major milestone. This week we will consider the game’s eligibility framework following a detailed review of the criteria governing international representation.

“As rugby grows, we need to ensure that it continues to be relevant and inspiring to the next generation of players and fans. Everyone has a say and everyone has a role to play in our future.

“I would like to thank our friends from the Japan Rugby Football Union, Japan Rugby 2019 organising committee and Japanese rugby community for their warm welcome and look forward to the week ahead.”

The meetings take place at an exciting time for rugby in Asia, where participation across the region has almost doubled since 2009 to more than 500,000 players. A further 610,700 children participated into Get Into Rugby activities in 2016. Later this month IMPACT Beyond RWC 2019 will be launched, an ambitious project to sustainably support and grow rugby participation in Asia, targeting one million new players by Rugby World Cup 2019.

Japan Rugby 2019 organising committee CEO Akira Shimazu added: “We welcome these important meetings that consider the future of rugby, including here in Asia, being hosted in Japan alongside the Rugby World Cup 2019 pool draw.

Stade Francais Players Strike Over Merger

The playing staff of French Rugby side Stade Francais have taken  strike action over the club's proposed merger with fellow side Racing 92.

Robins Tchale-Watchou, head of the players' union in the European country, said the players are on ''open-ended strike''. The players voted overwhelmingly to take the action, which will mean that Stade Français will not fulfil their fixture at Castres on Saturday.

The two clubs announced on Monday that the merger is set to take effect from the 2017-18 season, with a new Parisian super-club being established. The new super-club has been lined up to play in Racing's new U Arena, which is expected to open by October.

The move has been greeted negatively by many commentators, with a lack of respect for both clubs' history being cited as an issue.

Tchale-Watchou said, “Whatever the players decide, we will support them 100 per cent. The players are going to fight,” he added. “This has been done without any consultation with the players, the fans or the institutions. It's total panic.

“What do we do about those players who signed pre-contracts for next season, those players who have started making arrangements for next season?

“You won't fill one stadium with two half stadiums. It's not some French can-can, it's rugby. Fans won't go and support another club just like that. They're just burying 130 years of rugby history

Rugby World Cup Renews With Heineken

Dutch brewing organisation Heineken has extended its long-standing relationship with World Rugby. The two parties have reached an agreement for the beer company to sponsor the 2019 edition of the Rugby World Cup.

Heineken will serve as a worldwide partner of the event as part of the deal, which also names the brewery as an official partner of this year’s Women’s World Cup in Ireland and an official sponsor of the 2017 World Rugby Awards in Monaco on November 26.

The partnership will extend Heineken’s association with the World Cup to 24 years.

Heineken follows Emirates in renewing as a 2019 Rugby World Cup worldwide partner and Canon as an official sponsor. World Rugby added that it is confident that the commercial programme for Japan 2019 will be finalised in record time with record value.

Rule Clarification Possible Following Six Nations Controversy

World Rugby has refused to rule out an amendment to the rules of Rugby Union, after Italy utilised controversial tactics in a Six Nations match against England.

The Azzurri refused to engage in rucks during a fixture they led 10-5 at half-time, before losing 36-15.

England boss Eddie Jones criticised Italy's tactic, and said law-makers should have a "very close look at it".

However, there is currently nothing illegal about the Italian tactic, and it had been run past referee Romain Poite prior to the game.

The practice has been used on occasion in the past, in competitions including Super Rugby and Rugby Sevens.

Jones was angered by the approach, stating "If you paid for a ticket you should ask for your money back".

A spokesperson for World Rugby told the BBC it could 'clarify' the law, rather than drastically change it

Wales Ask Permission for Closed Stadium Roof

The Welsh Rugby Union national team have asked the organisers of the Six Nations championship for permission to play all their home games under a closed roof.

Wales' Principality Stadium is the only stadium to be used in the tournament with a retractable roof, with the ground due to play host to the fixture between Wales and England on February 11. Both sides would need to agree to the roof being closed if the change is to go ahead.

There has been general concurrence that a closed roof increases crowd engagement and atmosphere, as well as guaranteeing a cleaner, safer playing surface.

France Commit to World Cup Bid

Bernard Laporte, who was recently named President of the French Rugby Federation, has committed to the nation making a bid to host the 2023 Rugby Union World Cup.

Laporte, who has been in his role less than three weeks, has already made a big impact on French rugby.

He has halted plans to construct an 82,000-seater Rugby stadium in Paris, as well as recently announcing that the French team was to stop calling up 'foreign' players for international duty.

France will compete with Ireland and South Africa to host the 2023 World Cup, with Laporte stating, ''we aim to showcase France's wonderful major event credentials to host the most beautiful event in world rugby''

Bernard Laporte is new President of French Rugby Federation

Former France national team coach Bernard Laporte has been elected the new President of the French Rugby Federation (FRF). Laporte, order who left his job as manager of Toulon earlier this year, denturedefeated Alain Doucet and incumbent Pierre Camou with a vote share of 53%.

Laporte is widely expected to scrap Camou’s previous ambition of creating a new national Rugby stadium, with French rugby set to continue sharing the Stade de France with the French national football team.

Laporte, who coached the French team to successive World Cup semi-finals, has previously stated his ambition to develop the infrastructure of the national game at grassroots level

Rugby Football Union appoints Jeff Blackett as chairman

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) have appointed Judge Jeff Blackett, the current RFU chairman of governance, as chairman of the Professional Game Board (PGB) with immediate effect.

Replacing Ian Metcalfe, his appointment is for a term ending 31st July 2018. 

“I am honoured to be chosen to chair the PGB,” said Blackett.

“This is an exciting time for professional rugby following the ground-breaking new agreement signed earlier this year. I look forward to working with our partners at Premiership Rugby, the Greene King IPA Championship and the RPA to ensure the strength of the domestic professional game and England international teams for the future”

The PGB, formed in 2008, monitors and manages issues surrounding playing professional rugby in England.

Three Countries Confirmed for 2023 Rugby World Cup bid

World Rugby has confirmed France, Ireland and South Africa as Rugby World Cup 2023 host candidates.

Each union demonstrated within its application that it could meet key criteria critical to a viable Rugby World Cup hosting bid by the 1 September deadline. 

Italy formally withdrew from the process last week after the union confirmed it could not guarantee government support with its bid being linked to Rome 2024.

The applicant phase evaluation focused on key criteria such as finance, venues, tournament window and government support in line with World Rugby's seven hosting objectives:

• - Venues and infrastructure commensurate with a top-tier major event
• - Comprehensive and enforceable public and private sector guarantees
• - A commercially successful event with a fully funded, robust financial model
• - Operational excellence through an integrated and experienced delivery team
• - A vision that engages and inspires domestic and international audiences and contributes to the growth of rugby at all levels
• - An enabling environment of political and financial stability that respects the diversity of Rugby World Cup's global stakeholders
• - An environment and climate suited to top-level sport in a geography that allows maximum fan mobility

- Each application was reviewed in detail by a specialist technical review group and independently assessed to ensure a fair and consistent approach to the evaluation process

Rugby League World Cup Bid Receives UK Government Support

The RFL have welcomed the support of the UK government as they bid to host the 2021 World Cup.

The decision by the Government to support a bid, follows a successful 2015 international series.

The last time the tournament took place across the whole of the UK was in 2000, although Wales and England hosted the 2013 edition of the tournament.

RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood, said: ‘We are pleased that the Chancellor has once again confirmed that the Government will support a bid to bring the 2021 Rugby League World Cup to the UK.

“We look forward to understanding in more detail how the Government will support a bid and will work closely with the Treasury, DCMS and UK Sport in the coming months to try and ensure that any bid we do prepare has the best chance of success."

 

World Rugby Chairman to Step Down to Focus on Paris 2024 Olympic Bid

World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset has confirmed he will not be seeking re-election in May in order to concentrate on his role as co-chairman of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games bid committee.

Lapasset has enjoyed two successful terms as chairman which included the recent 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The Frenchman informed his World Rugby Executive Committee colleagues of his decision in Dublin this morning

“After careful consideration I have taken the decision not to seek a further term of office as Chairman of World Rugby," he said.

"I feel that this is the right time for‎ me to complete my current term and pass on the ball to one of my superb colleagues.

"My decision will allow me to stay connected to the game I love while now devoting more time to my role as co-chairman of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games bid.

"We are now entering into the heart of the campaign and nothing would give me greater pleasure than bringing the Games back to Paris ‎for a real centenary celebration of Olympism in 2024."

World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper added: “Bernard Lapasset is a wonderful ambassador for our sport, a great leader and a true visionary, who has presided over unparalleled growth and success in our sport."

World Rugby Launches World Cup 2019 Broadcast Rights Tender in UK and Ireland

World Rugby has launched the United Kingdom and Ireland broadcast rights tender process for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan. World Rugby has issued bidding information to interested parties in both markets and bids for Rugby World Cup 2019 as a stand-alone or coupled with Rugby World Cup 2023 will be considered

 World Rugby has issued bidding information to interested parties in both markets and bids for Rugby World Cup 2019 as a stand-alone or coupled with Rugby World Cup 2023 will be considered. Broadcasters interested in receiving the tender documentation should contact Jeremy Stone (Jeremy.Stone@img.com). The Rights Holding Broadcaster for each market will be announced later this year.The United Kingdom and Ireland markets were at the heart of the success story with Rugby World Cup programming achieving heavyweight viewing figures across both markets and broadcasters reporting strong ad sales returns. With rugby continuing to achieve record participation and interest growth around the world, the demand for the rights is set to remain strong.

In the UK, host broadcaster ITV achieved peak audiences reaching 11.5m for England's matches against Fiji, Wales and Australia and the final. The total UK three-minute reach was 40.2 million, while the 15-minute reach was just under 34 million, demonstrating just how Rugby World Cup 2015 captured the imagination across the host nation.

In Ireland, TV3 attracted its biggest-ever audiences for Rugby World Cup 2015 matches involving the Ireland team, while Rugby World Cup matches delivered three of the top four broadcast audiences in the Republic in 2015.

Gloucester Rugby Announce St Quinton as Sole Owner

Professional English rugby union club Gloucester Rugby has confirmed that Martin St Quinton is the new 100% owner of the club with immediate effect. Mr St Quinton, who first acquired a 25% share in the club in October 2008 before subsequently increasing his shareholding, has purchased all the shares held by the Walkinshaw family and now has sole ownership of the club.
 The announcement, which comes with the club still in the hunt for a top six finish in the Aviva Premiership and in the quarter-finals in its defence of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, brings to an end a period of uncertainty.

The news that Mr St Quinton, previously the club's Vice-Chairman, has increased his shareholding to assume overall control of the club, will ensure welcome continuity in terms of the management of the club.

Rugby Europe Launch New Digital Streaming Platform

Rugby Europe, the administrative body for rugby union in Europe, has unveiled the launch of a new digital streaming platform named rugbyeurope.tv. This digital streaming platform will air live coverage of all the competitions organised by Rugby Europe

Rugby Europe, the governing body responsible for the promotion, development, administration and management of international competitions for the 48 member unions across Europe has launched a new digital streaming platform: rugbyeurope.tv

 This digital streaming platform will air, LIVE, all of the competitions organised by Rugby Europe. Audiences will have the opportunity to view for FREE, the Men’s European Nations Cups, U18 European Championships and the 7s’ Grand Prix Series (men and women), in total over 70 international games and 16 rugby tournaments each year.

Rugby League World Cup to Increase to 16 Teams in 2021

 

The Rugby League World Cup will expand to 16 teams from 2021, the Rugby League International Federation has announced.

The new format will see the teams divided into four groups of four, with the top two from each going through to the knock-out stages.

According to RLIF chief executive David Collier "The growth of rugby league internationally is reflected in the expansion of the tournament to four pools of four,"

"The strength of the 2017 World Cup qualifiers to date, across the continents, has shown a significant increase in playing standard and quality and the newly-adopted international calendar will ensure that teams will have a minimum of 15 months prior to the 2021 event to stake their claim."

In addition, the 2021 Women's World Cup, which will run at the same time, will be increased to six nations.

Rugby Sevens Series Set for Record Broadcast Coverage

The 2015-16 rugby Sevens Series will set a record for broadcast coverage, according to World Rugby.

Rugby's governing body estimate the new series will 400 million homes in 144 nations in 12 different languages.

In addition to the live output, World Rugby's official highlights programme is set to air on some new free-to-air broadcasters, ITV4 showing highlights in the UK for the first time with deals pending in further territories. Following on from the recording-breaking success of Rugby World Cup's digital platforms, World Rugby will again complement its traditional broadcast offering with online highlights and feature content in a dedicated 'video hub', bringing fans around the world closer to the players and to the action than ever before, and giving them the chance to tailor their own action sequences.

Yokohama to Stage 2019 Rugby World Cup Final

 

World Rugby have approved a revised hosting roadmap for the 2019 Rugby World Cup which will see Yokohama replace Tokyo as the venue for the final.

The revised roadmap comes on the back of Tokyo scrapping their planned new National Stadium, which was due to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup final.

World Rugby seeked assurances from Japan that they could still deliver the tournament and are now satisfied that the new plans meet the required criteria set by the governing body.

Other features that are of Japan 2019 will see the Tokyo Stadium replace the new National Stadium within the inventory of 12 host venues and also host the opening ceremony and opening match.

World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "These are exciting, unprecedented times for Japan Rugby and this revised roadmap reinforces and reflects the shared vision and mission to deliver a Rugby World Cup that will be great for Japan, great for Asia and great for Rugby.”

Japan Rugby 2019 Organising Committee CEO Akira Shimazu said: "This revised plan is an exciting blueprint for success and we are confident that Rugby World Cup 2019 will be a very special tournament for Japan and global rugby.

"We are also confident that the selection of the Tokyo Stadium for the opening match and the final in the International Stadium Yokohama will provide a spectacular backdrop for the tournament across Japan, throughout Asia and around the world."

 

WRU Posts Record Turnover of £64.2m

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has announced a record turnover of £64.2m in the last financial year.This record turnover allowed for the WRU Group to allocate £22.6m into the game at all levels in Wales.

During the year the WRU Group invested £3.2m on capital projects at the Millennium Stadium, including the procurement of the new Desso pitch and Terraplas cover. The Desso pitch has already shown a significant performance improvement compared to the previous palletised system, whilst the Terraplas cover ensures the Stadium can continue to host non-pitch events and ensuring it remains a truly multipurpose venue.

The WRU Group's loan facilities with Barclays Bank plc were refinanced during the year. As part of the overall commercial arrangements of this deal the £10m Tranche C loan, that was only repayable under certain circumstances, was released in exchange for one share in Millennium Stadium plc. This resulted in an exceptional £10.0m gain which is a non-cash transaction