Rugby World Cup: World Rugby marks the transition to 24 nations in 2027

2023-10-24 14:16:52

The move to 24 participating nations, instead of 20 today, from the next Rugby World Cup, in 2027 in Australia, was ratified by World Rugby on Tuesday. The enlargement had been on the cards for a while. “There are many good reasons why expanding to 24 teams is the right thing to do,” World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin told the Telegraph last month.

So it’s now official. World Rugby has notably clarified the formula chosen for this 24-a-side World Cup, which has the merit of not extending the duration of the competition, and even reducing it a little. The 2027 World Cup in Australia will take place from October 1 to November 13, 2027, one week less than the current World Cup which ends on Saturday with the New Zealand – South Africa final at the Stade de France.

In Australia, there will be six groups of 4 teams each, the first two and the four best third-placed teams will qualify for the final phase. That is a total of sixteen teams who will have the chance to participate in the final phase compared to eight today and therefore, in theory, an increase in the number of potential winners of the competition.

Fewer group matches and round of 16 matches

The other major revolution is therefore the introduction of the round of 16, i.e. an additional round of the final phase compared to today. But, with one less group match and a slightly tightened schedule, the World Cup will now be held over seven weekends and a total duration of six weeks, compared to seven weeks currently.

The teams will play a match every six days in order to have only one day per week without a match and to avoid downtime. During the 1st round, France had to wait two weeks between its 3rd group match against Namibia and the 4th and final against Italy.

Several small nations had called for an expanded number of participants in a World Cup. And the good behavior of some, including Portugal, during this World Cup in France was not unrelated to this enlargement.

For its second participation, Portugal defeated Georgia (18-18) in Group D before beating Fiji (24-23) in the last match. Chile, which was participating in its first World Cup, was not ridiculous and developed an attractive game despite its four defeats in Group D.