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Spain Leading Race to Host 2035 Rugby World Cup | Bernabéu & Camp Nou in Line

JoeNa Connacht — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 17:36:51 +0000

Spain Front-Runners to Host 2035 Rugby World Cup as World Rugby Eyes European Return

Spain have emerged as the leading contenders to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup, with plans to bring matches to iconic venues such as the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid and Camp Nou in Barcelona.World Rugby is eager to return the tournament to Europe following the next two editions, which will be staged in Australia (2027) and the United States (2031). Spain’s ambitious bid is gaining serious traction, with support from both the Spanish Rugby Federation and the Spanish Government.

Strategic Move to Bring Rugby World Cup Back to Europe

World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin has confirmed that discussions are already underway to secure the 2035 host. Speaking about the governing body’s long-term strategy, Gilpin said:

“We took some big strategic decisions a few years ago to go men’s and women’s in Australia and the same in the US. We’ve now got to think about the balance and whether we bring 2035 [men’s] and 2037 [women’s] back to Europe. It’s almost like a regional rotation. We’ve never had that discussion strategically in World Rugby before but that’s probably the way the discussion has got to go.”

Spain’s bid could see the Bernabéu and Camp Nou — two of Europe’s most famous stadiums — transformed into rugby cathedrals. These iconic venues have a combined capacity of over 160,000 spectators, making them ideal for showcasing rugby on its biggest stage.

Other Contenders: Japan, Italy & Middle East Interest

While Spain are currently the front-runners, they are not the only nation vying for the tournament. Interest has also been expressed by:

Japan – who hosted a highly successful 2019 World Cup.
Italy – long-time rugby competitors seeking to grow the sport domestically.
A Middle Eastern consortium – looking to follow Qatar’s lead in attracting global sporting events.

However, World Rugby are understood to favour a European host in 2035, in keeping with their new rotational approach. A decision on the host is expected to be finalised within the next two years.

A New Frontier for Rugby in Europe

Should Spain be awarded the World Cup, it would represent a significant moment for the growth of rugby in non-traditional markets. Spain’s passionate sporting culture, coupled with world-class infrastructure, could deliver record attendances and help broaden the sport’s appeal across Southern Europe.

The potential staging of matches at the Bernabéu and Camp Nou would mark a watershed moment, with rugby taking centre stage at venues traditionally associated with football giants Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

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World Rugby Limit Full Contact Training To 15 Minutes Per Week

JoeNa Connacht — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 00:27:05 +0000

World Rugby have limited full-contact training to 15 minutes per week as part of a set of new guidelines aimed at reducing injury risk and supporting short and long-term player welfare.

The guidelines have been published by both World Rugby and International Rugby Players (IRP), and is supported by national players’ associations, national unions, international and domestic competitions, top coaches and clubs.

They focus on the intensity and frequency of contact training that rugby players undertake throughout their careers.

Full contact training is recommended to be limited to a maximum of 15 minutes per week across a maximum of two days per week with Mondays and Fridays comprising zero full contact training to allow for recovery and preparation.

Other recommended limits include a 40-minute cap on controlled contact training per week and a 30-minute restriction on live set-piece training.

World Rugby Director of Rugby and High Performance and former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt added: “Training has increasingly played an important role in injury prevention as well as performance.

“While there is a lot less full-contact training than many people might imagine, it is our hope that having a central set of guidelines will further inform players and coaches of key considerations for any contact that is done during training.

“These new guidelines, developed by leading experts and supported by the game, are by necessity a work in progress and will be monitored and further researched to understand the positive impact on player welfare. We are encouraged by the response that we have received so far.

“We recognise that community-level rugby can be an almost entirely different sport in terms of fitness levels, resources and how players can be expected to train, but the guidelines can be applied at many levels, especially the planning, purpose and monitoring of any contact in training.”

Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster, who was involved in reviewing the study and advising the development of the guidelines, said: “We have a responsibility to make the game as safe as possible for all our players. For coaches, optimising training plays a significant role in achieving that objective.

“It is important that we do not overdo contact load across the week in order that players are fresh, injury-free and ready for match days. These guidelines provide a practical and impactful approach to this central area of player preparation and management.”

Ireland international and IRP Head of Strategic Projects and Research Sene Naoupu said: “While this is the first step of the implementation and monitoring process, it is an incredible outcome that shows just how much players care about this area.

“It also provides a foundation to review and determine the future direction of implementation across the game, within an evidence-based injury-prevention programme for performance and welfare.”

The guidelines will feature in the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cup player welfare standards.

World Rugby is also working on a “wide-ranging study of the impact of replacements on injury risk in the sport with the University of Bath in England.”

All of these activities will inform the decisions the sport makes to advance welfare for players at all levels and stages.

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World Rugby To Trial New Laws Globally

JoeNa Connacht — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 11:30:31 +0000

World Rugby will allow new laws designed to protect tacklers and jacklers, the 50:22 kicking law and the goal-line dropout to be used globally from August 1st as part of a global trial.

If successful, these laws could be implemented worldwide and have an effect on Irish teams, including the international side.

In addition to this, some competitions, including New Zealand provincial competitions, will also feature the Red Card Replacement and Golden Point laws introduced by New Zealand Rugby during Super Rugby Aotearoa.

New Zealand’s top female players will be among the first in the world to trial the new World Rugby safety laws when the Farah Palmer Cup presented by Bunnings Warehouse kicks off this weekend.

“These laws will be coming in at all levels of the game globally from 1 August, so we are fortunate that our FPC players will be among the first in the world to start getting used to what could quickly become the norm at all levels. The objective of a number of these laws is to make the game safer for players,” NZR Head of High Performance Mike Anthony said.

The trials will include the banning of the pods of more than two players binding together with the ball-carrier, and a crackdown on the way players remove, or clean out, the jackler.

One player will be allowed to bind with the ball-carrier prior to contact but they must stay on their feet.

“At the breakdown, attacking players who clean out the jackler by targeting their lower limbs or drop their weight onto them will be penalised with the aim of reducing the injury risk to any defending players being cleaned out,” Anthony said.

The 50:22 law is when a kick made by the team in possessions half lands in the field of play and proceeds to go out inside the opposition 22, the team who originally kicked is rewarded with a line out.

“The intention is to create more attacking space by having the defensive team put players back to cover the backfield. With reduced numbers in the defensive line this may also reduce line speed. It will be interesting to see how teams’ approach this, particularly around defending the backfield space,” said Anthony.

Although they will not be part of World Rugby’s Global Law Trial, NZR has gained approval to use the popular Red Card replacement and will also continue to use Golden Point in all domestic competitions.

“We believe the ability to replace a red-carded player after 20 minutes is better for players and fans and maintains the contest for all involved.

“The Golden Point creates real drama when matches finish in a tie at full time, but we will only be using the law during the round-robin, not during the finals,” said Anthony.

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7s: Full Olympic Draw

JoeNa Connacht — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:57:07 +0000

The Olympic Men’s Sevens tournament draw was announced this morning with the pools now known to all 12 competing teams.

The sides will play in the tournament from July 26th to July 28th – the pool stage will take place from July 26th to July 27th.

The men’s competition will be held before the Women’s Olympic Sevens tournament gets underway in a reverse to the schedule from the Rio Olympic games in 2016.

The men’s draw split the 12 teams into three pools of four.

POOLS ANNOUNCEMENT

Mouthwatering match-ups in the early stages of the men's competition

The countdown to #Tokyo2020 is #HowWeSevens pic.twitter.com/BNsWcJGMi9

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) June 28, 2021

Pool A involves bookies’ favourite New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and South Korea.

The former pair will renew their historic rivalry at the Olympics, making it the perfect opportunity for current Rugby World Cup Sevens and World Series champions New Zealand to make a statement in the pool stages.

Argentina will want to improve on their respectable sixth-placed finish at Rio 2016 with an impressive outing in Tokyo.

South Korea round off Pool A and will take part in Olympic Sevens for the first time in its history after winning the Asian qualification tournament with an extra-time ‘golden-point’ try to overcome Hong Kong.

Pool B includes Fiji, Great Britain, Japan and Canada.

Reigning Olympic champions Fiji will want to assert themselves early but face a tough task to do so in Pool B.

Great Britain will want revenge for their 43-7 defeat in the 2016 Olympic Sevens final at the hands of the champions and the draw has given them an opportunity to do that early.

The pair are joined by hosts Japan who will want to get a medal on home soil after their fourth-placed finish in Rio saw them miss out on one.

Another Olympic debutant Canada is the fourth team in this tough group and will have a lot to prove as a result.

The final pool – Pool C – includes Ireland, the USA, South Africa and Kenya.

Ireland are the last of the three Olympic debutants in Tokyo and face some tough challenges in the United States, South Africa and Kenya.

Anthony Eddy’s side beat 2016 quarter-finalists France to reach Tokyo.

The United States come in as third-favourites to win the Men’s Olympic Sevens tournament this summer and will be tough for opponents to handle.

Rio 2016 Bronze medalists South Africa will want to go at least one game further in the competition this summer.

Kenya failed to get out of their group in 2016 but have grown in the five years since and will pose a threat to the other three teams in the pool.

The draw makes for an exciting tournament in late July.

You can read the Irish Rugby announcement here.

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Schmidt in line for job at World Rugby

JoeNa Connacht — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 16:51:25 +0000

Former Ireland and Leinster Rugby head coach Joe Schmidt is in line for a job at World Rugby.

The Times report that Schmidt is on World Rugby’s shortlist to become a new director of rugby and high performance position. This would mean Schmidt would oversee the management of match officials, interactions with coaches and supervise high performance development in second tier rugby nations. Schmidt was to take up the position he would have to take a cut in his salary from that at Ireland. In his final few seasons at Ireland Schmidt was earning up to €1 million a year.

As we know Schmidt is a fantastic coach having spent 6 years at the helm over Ireland. He has also at Bay of Plenty as well as at the Blues where he was an assistant coach. However, in 2006 Schmidt moved to Clermont in France where he operated as assistant coach to Vern Cotter. Schmidt then moved to Leinster in 2010 to take up the mantle as Head coach. He a remarkable stint at Leinster, leading them to a Pro12 title and two Champions Cup titles. The Kiwi then took on the role as Ireland national team head coach in 2013.

An announcement on who will get the job is expected in mid September. The role was set to be made due to some poor decisions from referees at the Rugby World Cup in last year and the issues with high tackling. Schmidt has said that he would be taking time out from coaching but a return to rugby in some capacity was always on the cards and this role might suit much better than another high-profile coaching gig.

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New rugby rules for Covid 19 approved

JoeNa Connacht — Thu, 28 May 2020 19:25:50 +0000

World Rugby have approved new rugby rules owing to Covid 19. BBC report that the rules will drastically reduce the number of scrums in a game, limiting numbers in the maul, removing the choke tackle and speeding up rucks are just 10 of the optional laws trials which were approved.

RTE Sport say that unions can apply to use one or more of the temporary law amendments in line with the World Rugby protocol on play to guidance. The World Health Organisation have supported the new laws and were considered by a law group which consisted of coaches, players, medics, match officials and law specialists on the back of analysis of 60 games. World Rugby said in a statement the trials will “provide limits to scrum options with no scrum resets, limits for players joining rucks and mauls, time to play the ball at the base of scrums and rucks reduced from five to three seconds and only one movement permitted for a maul.”

Bill Beaumont said that the health and well-being of the rugby family is paramount. He said, “We have extensively evaluated the perceived risk areas within the game in partnership with our unions”. World Rugby have also that contact exposure could be resumed between the tight 5 by more than 30%. They also said ruck exposure will decrease by 25% and maul exposure by around 50%.

In addition to the 10 laws outlined above, hygiene measures will also be in place. Hand and face sanitisation will be required, before and after games. Furthermore, the rugby ball will also be washed, before, during and after a game. Teams will be required to change their kits at half time. Teams will be asked not to huddle and celebrate in terms of close contact. Spitting and nose clearance is also not recommended. World Rugby have said that scrum practice should be done by machine rather than team mates. High transmission training such as scrummaging and mauling should be avoided for 48 hours after a game. The full list of these hygiene measures can be found here

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World Rugby banish tries against post protector

JoeNa Connacht — Tue, 12 May 2020 19:44:41 +0000

World Rugby have opted to banish tries against the post protector with immediate effect. The announcement will now mean tries will not be awarded by grounding the ball against the post protector.

RTE Sport report that the law change was approved on Tuesday after the World Rugby Council conducted a special meeting by conference call and it follows a recommendation by the international federations rugby committee as well as the Laws Review Group. The main reasoning behind the rule change is that it had become difficult for teams to defend the area especially in ruck areas.

The post has come to help many attackers out in the past with scoring tries. For instance CJ Stander’s try against England in 2018 at Twickenham when Ireland won 24-15.

In a statement World Rugby chairman, Bill Beaumont, who was re-elected to the role last week stated, “World Rugby’s mission is to make the game as simple, safe and enjoyable to play as possible. This law amendment reflects that mission”. Mr Beaumont continued, “By stipulating that an attacking team can no longer score against the post protector and therefore must ground the ball in-goal, this gives defending teams a fair chance of preventing a try from being scored.”

Law 8.2 in the rule book will now read:

The post protector is no longer an extension of the goal-line and therefore Law 8.2 (a) will read: A try is scored when the attacking player is first to ground the ball in the opponents’ in-goal.

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