The start of the “final sprint”. The organizing committee of the Rugby World Cup, which will be held from September 8 to October 28, revealed this Wednesday, May 31 the medals of the competition. They were minted by the Monnaie de Paris. “We are there, 100 days from a World Cup which I hope will be memorable, exceptional, the most beautiful” of all, judged the president of France 2023, Jacques Rivoal, alongside Sir Bill Beaumont, the boss of World Rugby, as well as the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
The competition, which will last fifty-one days, will bring together 660 players from 5 continents and divided into 20 teams, who will play a total of 48 matches in 9 stadiums in France. “It’s going to be great. We expect between 2.5 million and 3 million fans”, with “a good part of foreigners, about 40%”, rejoiced for her part the minister, assuring that France “will be there in 100 days”. France 2023 estimates at 1.2 billion euros the direct impact of the World Cup throughout the territory.
In all, 1,491 medals will be distributed during the competition: those in gold, silver and bronze which will adorn the necks of the winners, finalists and winners of the “small” final, as well as those for each of the participants of this 10th edition. . New: they were made from recycled components from 206,000 phones collected in particular from rugby clubs in France.
Each medal is surmounted by a stylized Arc de Triomphe. The World Cup logo is on one side and on the other is the William Webb Ellis trophy and the dates ‘1823-2023’ as a reminder that rugby celebrates its bicentenary this year.
This trophy, named after the English student at Rugby School who decided one autumn day in 1823, according to tradition, while playing football, to grab a ball in his hand before crossing the field to flatten the first try in history, has been awarded since the first World Cup, in 1987, to the winning team of the competition. France, poured into pool A alongside the All Blacks, but also Italy, Uruguay and Namibia, is among the favorites of the competition with Ireland, at the top of the World Rugby rankings, New Zealand and defending champions South Africa.
The Blues have never won this competition, unlike New Zealand (three times), South Africa (three times), Australia (twice) and England (once) .
