RWC 2027 Australia

[Omar Comin']

Love to see it. More rising to competitive levels the better. Get the 2nd tournament going with 4 sides below the 6 nations and bring in relegation. Georgia are about to go past Wales in the ranking for what they're worth...

I don't think any of the 6 nations unions will ever allow promotion/relegation, the cost of relegation would be too high. Maybe if it changed to 4 teams per division (home and away within your division each year), so that the 2nd division was still strong and commercially valuable. But I think expansion would be more likely.

Another option would be to hold a rugby euros cup style tournament every 4 years (between world cups). Could easily do that with 12 teams now.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I don't think any of the 6 nations unions will ever allow promotion/relegation, the cost of relegation would be too high. Maybe if it changed to 4 teams per division (home and away within your division each year), so that the 2nd division was still strong and commercially valuable. But I think expansion would be more likely.

Another option would be to hold a rugby euros cup style tournament every 4 years (between world cups). Could easily do that with 12 teams now.

Yeah it's another one of those off season hypothetical.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I don't think any of the 6 nations unions will ever allow promotion/relegation, the cost of relegation would be too high. Maybe if it changed to 4 teams per division (home and away within your division each year), so that the 2nd division was still strong and commercially valuable. But I think expansion would be more likely.

Another option would be to hold a rugby euros cup style tournament every 4 years (between world cups). Could easily do that with 12 teams now.

I think they should introduce a 7th qualifier slot. The current 6 being the owners of the tournament would remain permanent fixtures but the winner ofcthe REC would assume the qualifier spot playing in the '7Ns' before then playing against the winner of the next REC to remain.

 

[liquor box]

Georgia, Spain, Portugal and Romania now all qualified - the next 2 weeks will determine how they are seeded as Europe 1-4. Europe 5 (either Netherlands or Belgium barring a huge upset) will make the final qualifying tournament.

Hopefully Spain didn't play anyone ineligible this time!! They have more potential than most to bridge the tier 2 to tier 1 gap.

Are they really tier 2?

I think there are at least 3 tiers, I would stop tier 2 at Wales and have Japan on the border of 2 and 3.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Are they really tier 2?

I think there are at least 3 tiers, I would stop tier 2 at Wales and have Japan on the border of 2 and 3.

You're assuming tiers are performance based.

 

[Adam84]

At an official level, World Rugby no longer use the Tier system for test teams, and towards the end it became more a reflection of professional structures in place in that country rather than the on-field performance anyway, so classifying teams into Tiers is a bit arbitrary

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I think we hear it more in Aus due to League and it actually having some meaning in regards to player movement and ability to play Origin and for a Tier 2 country but you can't a Tier 1 and Origin.

 

[Adam84]

For what it's worth, JFRU was classified a High Performance Union back in 2023 which meant they have 3 votes on the council alongside the other 10 countries from SANZAAR and 6Nations. This term; 'High Performance Union' essentially replaced what Tier 1 used to be.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

"Dubai (United Arab Emirates) has been selected to host the Final Qualification Tournament for Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027, with the decisive event scheduled to take place from 8–18 November, 2025 at The Sevens Stadium. This final chapter in the qualification journey will determine the 24th and last team to earn their place at the sport’s pinnacle men’s tournament in Australia (1 October-13 November, 2027)."

Belgium have already qualified, others TBA after regional qualification, one each from Africa, Asia & South America.

Dubai to host final qualifier for Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 in November | World Rugby

Dubai (United Arab Emirates) has been selected to host the Final Qualification Tournament for Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027, with the decisive event scheduled to take place from 8–18 November, 2025 at The Sevens Stadium. This final chapter in the qualification journey will determine the 24th and...

www.world.rugby

 

[Omar Comin']

Zimbabwe beat Namibia 30-28 last night to qualify for their first world cup since 1991, with Ian Prior pulling the strings at 10. Awesome to see, they'll have heaps of support out here. And I imagine they'll be able to strengthen their team quite a bit over the next 2 years.

Namibia will now play UAE (who finished runner up to Hong Kong in the Asian qualifiers) for a spot in the final qualification tournament.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Zimbabwe beat Namibia 30-28 last night to qualify for their first world cup since 1991, with Ian Prior pulling the strings at 10. Awesome to see, they'll have heaps of support out here. And I imagine they'll be able to strengthen their team quite a bit over the next 2 years.

Namibia will now play UAE (who finished runner up to Hong Kong in the Asian qualifiers) for a spot in the final qualification tournament.

Apparently Hong Kong has a list of eligible players they plan to reach out to over the next 24 months. Would imagine Zimbabwe would at least be busy putting their own together now.

 

[Bandar]

Apparently Hong Kong has a list of eligible players they plan to reach out to over the next 24 months. Would imagine Zimbabwe would at least be busy putting their own together now.

Pocock out of retirement

 

[Omar Comin']

Apparently Hong Kong has a list of eligible players they plan to reach out to over the next 24 months. Would imagine Zimbabwe would at least be busy putting their own together now.

You'd think Zimbabwe's would be a lot bigger than Hong Kong's. Big diaspora in South Africa, UK and Australia. There must be dozens of professional and semi-professional players who'd qualify for them.

For Hong Kong I think they will hopefully have a handful of guys they can bring in, but their main route to improvement will be to fully professionalise the bulk of their squad for the next 2 years and play as many good quality games as possible before the world cup. They have to take the route Uruguay and Chile have of being a super high cohesion team with professional level strength and conditioning.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

You'd think Zimbabwe's would be a lot bigger than Hong Kong's. Big diaspora in South Africa, UK and Australia. There must be dozens of professional and semi-professional players who'd qualify for them.

For Hong Kong I think they will hopefully have a handful of guys they can bring in, but their main route to improvement will be to fully professionalise the bulk of their squad for the next 2 years and play as many good quality games as possible before the world cup. They have to take the route Uruguay and Chile have of being a super high cohesion team with professional level strength and conditioning.

The HK list I've seen mentioned as longer than you would think. But I expect Zimbabwe's will be sizeably larger.

Centralizing the bulk of their domestic squad will likely be on the books for Zimbabwe as it's actually what WR (World Rugby) wants most of the qualifying Unions to do. HK are looking to do this in the next few months. Spain will centrally contract 30 players from Spetember. Pretty much all of their domestically based squad plus I imagine the best of the current Spanish based U20s squad.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

HK will have a sneaky long list of Aus and UK blokes eligible through birth. Nature of HK industry in finance and the Rugby player base in private schools go hand in hand.

Will they threaten anyone decent? No, but they will pick up a few fringe pros.

 

[Dctarget]

HK will have a sneaky long list of Aus and UK blokes eligible through birth. Nature of HK industry in finance and the Rugby player base in private schools go hand in hand.

Will they threaten anyone decent? No, but they will pick up a few fringe pros.

I'm just glad we capped Champion De Cripsgney before they did.

 

[Braveheart81]

You'd think Zimbabwe's would be a lot bigger than Hong Kong's. Big diaspora in South Africa, UK and Australia. There must be dozens of professional and semi-professional players who'd qualify for them.

Such as former Force player Ian Prior. He'll be turning 37 around the time of the RWC. Presumably he'll keep going until then.

 

[Sword of Justice]

HK will have a sneaky long list of Aus and UK blokes eligible through birth. Nature of HK industry in finance and the Rugby player base in private schools go hand in hand.

Will they threaten anyone decent? No, but they will pick up a few fringe pros.

NZ as well. I recently took four Cathay flights and 3 of the captains were Kiwi, one Aus.

 

[Omar Comin']

Such as former Force player Ian Prior. He'll be turning 37 around the time of the RWC. Presumably he'll keep going until then.

World Rugby interviewed him recently. He's put in a big effort to keep himself in shape and was instrumental to their qualification. Will be great if he can keep going for 2 more years.

https://www.world.rugby/news/100191...rior-interview-rugby-africa-cup-final-preview

"Obviously, that World Cup carrot has been a goal of mine to keep going, to keep waking up at 5.30 and go to gym before I go to work and then coming back from work, picking up the kids and going to do extra training on my own, because I am not in a full-time, professional environment anymore, kicking balls down at the local park and at my local club, Associates RUFC,

"It's almost taken me back to when I was trying to make it as a pro, doing all hours, outside of your work, outside of your study, and now I have got a young family and a wife.

"They've been very understanding of the sacrifices I have had to make; it is time away from them, so I am looking forward to making that count on Saturday."

In his six caps, Prior has amassed 80 points and is yet to lose in a Zimbabwean test jersey, one which he wears with pride.

"For someone who has plied his trade in Super Rugby for 14 years and always had test ambitions, to represent my heritage nation where my family all come from – I am the only Aussie born in my family – is pretty special," he confessed.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

World Rugby interviewed him recently. He's put in a big effort to keep himself in shape and was instrumental to their qualification. Will be great if he can keep going for 2 more years.

https://www.world.rugby/news/100191...rior-interview-rugby-africa-cup-final-preview

"Obviously, that World Cup carrot has been a goal of mine to keep going, to keep waking up at 5.30 and go to gym before I go to work and then coming back from work, picking up the kids and going to do extra training on my own, because I am not in a full-time, professional environment anymore, kicking balls down at the local park and at my local club, Associates RUFC,

"It's almost taken me back to when I was trying to make it as a pro, doing all hours, outside of your work, outside of your study, and now I have got a young family and a wife.

"They've been very understanding of the sacrifices I have had to make; it is time away from them, so I am looking forward to making that count on Saturday."

In his six caps, Prior has amassed 80 points and is yet to lose in a Zimbabwean test jersey, one which he wears with pride.

"For someone who has plied his trade in Super Rugby for 14 years and always had test ambitions, to represent my heritage nation where my family all come from – I am the only Aussie born in my family – is pretty special," he confessed.

They could look to get Kyle Godwin to come out of retirement.