
There’s another date for your sporting calendars, as from October 1 to November 13, 2027, the men’s Rugby World Cup will take over Australia, with 24 teams vying to be the world champions. Whether or not anyone will dethrone defending champs South Africa remains to be seen, but what we learned today is the cities that will host World Cup matches. The World Cup will be contested across seven cities, and of course, Melbourne had to be one of them.
Nine games are set to take place in Melbourne, mostly towards the start of the tournament: seven pool matches, and two round of 16 games when the tournament reaches the knockout stages. Sydney scored the bragging rights to host the final, amongst other matches, whilst Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Townsville, and Perth (where the opening game will be held) are the other venues across the nation. There’s no word yet on the venues, or where Australia’s matches will be held, but they’ll contest at least three group stage matches and will be expected to progress into the latter stages of the knockouts, so I’m betting on them playing in Melbourne at least once.
Promising “an-era defining tournament that is set to propel rugby union to new heights”, the 2027 Rugby World Cup tournament has been expanded to 24 teams (up from 20 at the last edition), and now features the round of 16 games as an extra knockout stage. Twelve teams have already qualified for the tournament – Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, Wales, Fiji, England, Argentina, and Japan – with the remaining twelve decided by a combination of regional competitions, the new Pacific Nations Cup, playoffs, and a qualification tournament.
Sports fans can register their interest in tickets here, and we’ll keep you updated with further news as it arrives.