HARD HITTING VIEW

This week World Rugby announced the host nations for the next decade of men and women’s Rugby World Cups.

Following on from France next year, the men’s competition will head to Australia in 2027 before moving to the United States in 2031 for the very first time.

The women’s tournament comes to England in 2025 and then it too, will go to Australia and the United States in the next rotations.

Australia were the last country standing after both Argentina and Russia withdrew their bids to host the competition and it will be a shot in the arm for the game down under.

Rugby Union in Australia is the poor relation of winter sports behind Rugby League and Aussie Rules, and as such has often struggled financially.

That point was emphasised by the Rugby Australia chairman, Hamish Mclennan, who said that the announcement was a game-changer for the sport in Australia and a once in a generation opportunity to revitalise the sport and guarantee its future for years to come.

His sentiments were echoed on social media, with former Wallaby centre Tim Horan saying that the award of the two World Cups would grow both the men and women’s games and provide financial security for generations.

One can only imagine that was the same intent behind awarding the following World Cups to the USA.

The game in North America has enormous potential, both from a playing perspective and commercially.

The globalisation of the game has been a real driver for the private equity house, CVC, to invest in the game and one can only wonder how much influence they had in the award to the USA, where the commercial opportunities have to be huge.

If rugby can emerge from the shadow of American football and attract the same sort of talent into its ranks as the NFL does, the USA will truly become a force to be reckoned with.

Even taking some of the “cast offs” from the NFL would have a huge impact on the sport as the athleticism, pace and power of these individuals would be a match for almost anyone.

Some have suggested that the USA would be embarrassed as host nation not to progress to the quarter-finals. But having seen how Japan have developed successfully over the past few years, the host nation in 2031 should certainly not be discounted.

Their bid was reputedly valued at half-a-billion dollars so expect them to back that up with a significant investment in the playing side of the game as well.

The underlying theme is that money appears to be the key priority for the game now, perhaps at the expense of broadening the reach of the game itself.

Hopefully both objectives can be reconciled.

‘ The game in North America has enormous potential