After months of deliberation and anticipation from fans and organisers alike, it’s now been announced that Australia will host the men’s 2027 and women’s 2029 Rugby World Cups after the nation was granted formal staging rights for the two global showpieces from the World Rugby Council. It comes after a final vote was held in Dublin on Thursday.
Most believed it was all but guaranteed that the World Cup would arrive Down Under after Australia gained preferred host status in the streamlined bid process. If you happened to be out and about Sydney city yesterday, you may have seen the Harbour Bridge lit up in green and gold at 6pm as the countdown to hosting confirmation began. Now it seems players and fans alike can breathe a sigh of relief as they look forward to the years ahead.
The significance of such an occasion can’t be overestimated. As the north-south financial divide continues to widen in the sport, those behind such decisions were urged to name Australia as the host nation for the upcoming tournaments. Though the US were a contender for hosting duties, the Australian bid team believed they would be better suited for the 2031 tournament. As Rugby Australia’s chairman, Hamish McLennan, said, “Rugby is still a relatively immature sport int he US and they’ve still got to build a team up. You saw the recent 104-14 score between the All Blacks and the US Eagles. I think they need time to invest in their team and build their stocks up.”
Here in Australia however, audiences have dipped considerably as renowned players have been lost to a competitive market. As McLennan made clear in the proposal, high-profile league players would be more inclined to transfer to a 15-side code if a World Cup was held on home soil. “We’re seeing rugby league players losing at our calendar. We’ve got a Lions tour in 2025, and, potentially, a World Cup in 2027 leading into an Olympics in 2032. Some of these guys are putting their hands up and saying: ‘We want to be part of that.’ They realise the potential that exists.”
Two-time World Cup winner and Wallabies legend Tim Horan was quick to champion the announcement, proclaiming it “the most significant moment in Australian rugby history since winning the RWC in 1991 that put rugby on the map in Oz.”
Rugby Australia boss Andy Marinos estimates that the two World Cups could bring between $50 million and $60 million to the sport’s governing body that is supposedly “cash-strapped,” according to reports from The Guardian. As the publication reports, it’s hoped the Rugby World Cup could return the sport to its former glory “after the organisation considered reverting to amateur status when it recorded a net deficit of $27.1m for 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
RA President David Codey added, “It sets us up for what I think is going to be a golden age of rugby in this country.”
These sentiments were echoed by Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, who said “it’s pretty special.” He added, “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.”
