World Rugby has unveiled radical calendar changes that it hopes will take the game into a new era and which it said was the final step in a long-term review.
Rugby hailed the expansion of the World Cup and the introduction of a Nations League competition as a new dawn for the sport as it seeks to widen its international reach and increase revenue and opportunity.
“If rugby is going to become a truly global sport, we simply have to make it more relevant, more accessible to more people around the world,” WR chairman Sir Bill Beaumont told a press conference in Paris. There will be a round of 16 added and, despite more competing sides, the tournament will be shortened from seven weeks to six.WR said the draw for the next World Cup would be made in January 2026, the latest it has ever been held before a tournament. It follows criticism that the draw for the World Cup in France, based on rankings from the 2019 tournament partly due to COVID, was made too early and led to lopsided competition with one side of the draw packed with top-ranked teams.
There will also be an annual expanded Pacific Nations Cup competition in 2024 featuring Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the United States.
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