This has yet nothing to do with the Football World Cup and its 2026 edition which will bring together 48 teams. But the next Rugby World Cup will look a little more like a “planetary” event than in the past. Tuesday October 24, World Rugby – the international federation – announced that the next edition of the great Oval mass, which will take place in Australia in 2027, would bring together 24 nations, compared to 20 at the moment.
Objective of this enlargement? “Provide more qualification opportunities for more teams,” explains the body in its press release. During the 2023 World Cup, many nations such as Romania, Portugal and Uruguay suffered major defeats against teams more accustomed to international games. They complained of not benchmarking themselves sufficiently against the latter, and of not having enough places available during the international meeting.
“Tier 2 [the weakest nations in the World Cup] need competition, so that rugby is not a sport played by ten nations, so that it is more global and the matches are more attractive to watch », pleaded the Uruguayan captain, German Kessler, after his team’s defeat against Italy in the group stages.
Paradoxically, this Oceanian World Cup will also be one week shorter than the one preparing to conclude in France with a final between New Zealand and South Africa on October 28. In Australia, the best teams will compete in a completely new format. According to Le Parisien, there will be six groups of four teams (compared to four of five currently), which will compete for sixteen qualifying tickets for the knockout matches. The two best teams in each group, as well as the four third-placed groups having accumulated the most points, will reach this goal.
A new competition every two years
Rugby is already not the sport most conducive to surprises, this new format should definitely protect the big names of the discipline from going off the road in the pools. But the path to the Webb-Ellis Trophy will then be more difficult. Because World Rugby has also decided to introduce one more knockout match than in the past, by adding the round of 16 stage of the finals. Until now, the qualified teams reached the quarter-finals directly, the stage of the competition at which the Blues lost against South Africa in 2023 (29-28).
Another new feature on the calendar: the establishment of a new competition from 2026. Called the Nations Cup after the Olympic Midi, it will also bring together 24 teams, divided into two divisions. The first, which will include France, will pit the teams participating in the Six Nations Tournament (England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and France), at the Rugby Championship. (New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina), as well as two invited nations.
A system of promotion and relegation between the two divisions will be put in place from 2030. This new competition will be held every two years, during the international windows in July and November, in place of the current tours.