US ‘set in stone’ as 2031 Rugby World Cup hosts despite worries

World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin says the United States will host the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup despite serious doubts over the sport’s health in the country. The Eagles are 16th in the world rankings, they have never reached the World Cup knock-out stages and were hammered 85-0 by Scotland in November in their most recent major Test. The professional Major League Rugby is now down to six teams after four clubs quit the competition and reports in British newspapers claim there are questions over how the US will deliver the tournament on a commercial level.

The country will also host the women’s World Cup in 2033. “It’s set in stone, it’s been set in stone since that decision of the World Rugby Council in May 2022,” Gilpin told reporters on Thursday after the annual Shape of the Game summit. “That’s not to say we don’t contingency plan, we contingency plan for everything as you’d expect.

“We’ve got an enormous number of host cities, of state sports commissions really excited about it and there’s fantastic engagement across the US.” Before the summit in London, the French Rugby Federation and the body overlooking the Top 14 league in France raised their concerns about the potential damage to the sport’s “DNA” that possible law changes could make. They are worried scrums and line-outs are set to be diluted in attempt to make the sport simpler to a wider audience. “None of those issues were actually debated this week at all, they weren’t on the table to be discussed,” World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson told reporters.