World Rugby considers staging World Cup every 2 years, orange cards - report

WORLD Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin  admits staging the World Cup every two years is an "interesting concept."

Gilpin expressed his views in an interview with  The Telegraph and it comes shortly after soccer governing body FIFA recently also floated idea of a biennial World Cup.

According to the report, Gilpin, World Rugby chairperson Bill Beaumont and France 2023 director general Claude Atcher have met in Paris and among the items on the agenda was reducing the time between World Cups.

The Rugby World Cup has been played every four years since 1987 and currently 20 teams participate in the showpiece.

"Biennial World Cups have been considered before and they're definitely something that we will continue to consider," Gilpin told the English publication. "It's an interesting concept, especially when you think about the global development of the women's game, too.

"But the men's calendar is very congested and complex, with a lot of different stakeholders, and we have to make sure we engage with them all before we consider a World Cup every two years."

Gilpin added that the governing body's top brass were considering expanding the tournament to 24 teams.

"If we decide that we're going to extend to 24 teams, which might be the ambition, then, actually, when you move to six pools of four, you don’t need any longer," he said.

The report added that law changes were discussed at the meeting, with Gilpin saying there is consideration being given to introducing an "orange card," which would act as an intermediary between the yellow and red cards. – SPORT24.