Rugby: Rugby-We’ll close the gap with smaller nations by 2031 says World Rugby chief

LILLE, France (Reuters) – World Rugby head Bill Beaumont has hailed the first month’s World Cup action in France and promised the sport’s lesser nations would get more chances “to be competitive on the world stage” amid widespread frustration from players and coaches.

However, anyone expecting a levelling up to come to fruition in time for the next tournament in Australia in 2027 might be disappointed as Beaumont spoke of a “genuinely competitive World Cup” four years after that.

“France 2023 has captured the imagination and warmed hearts the length and breadth of this rugby-loving nation,” WR chairman Beaumont said in statement on Tuesday after the end of the four-week pool stage.

“With an average attendance of 47,000 across the nine beautiful stadiums, more than a million fans mixing in rugby villages and an unprecedented social footprint of almost one billion fans, this is shaping up to be the social Rugby World Cup.”

Although some of the Tier Two nations – renamed “performance unions” by the governing body – provided some memorable moments, only Fiji upset a Tier One side when they beat Australia.

To a man, the coaches of those unions lamented the lack of opportunity to get more meaningful matches outside the World Cup, which is what they have been complaining about pretty much since the tournament began in 1987.

“I want to assure everyone that the likes of Portugal. Samoa, Tonga, Uruguay, Chile and Georgia may be gone, but they are certainly not forgotten,” Beaumont said.

“We must and will do everything we can to provide greater certainty and opportunity of regular high-level competition for these teams.

“They are central to our discussions on a reimagined international calendar that will benefit the many, not the few.

“This, in turn, will enable us to arrive at Rugby World Cup 2031 in the United States anticipating a genuinely competitive and unpredictable Rugby World Cup which is great for fans, broadcasters and commercial partners.”

Asked about the levelling up issue at the tournament’s weekly press conference on Tuesday, WR spokesman Dom Rumbles said: “There is a commitment to get this right, to get at least certainty, it is top of our agenda.”

World Rugby has still to finalise the format of a planned new integrated competition due to commence in 2026 but it has said that while a parallel competition for Tier Two countries will also be in place, the prospect of promotion and relegation remains some years down the line.

Organisers said 1.84 million fans had attended the 40 games in France — 8% more than at all of the 2019 tournament in Japan — with eight matches to go and that it was on track to be the most-watched World Cup ever on TV.

Asked if the pool stage might be shortened for the 2027 edition in Australia, France tournament director Michel Pousseau said: “We always have an assessment and for 2027 a shorter pool stage is one of the topics under discussion.”

(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ken Ferris)