Wallabies legend Phil Kearns says hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup could secure the game’s future in Australia for a “long, long time.”
Australia is in the box seat to host the showpiece tournament after World Rugby yesterday declared it as the “preferred candidate” ahead of the United States.
Rugby Australia has been on its knees and in April announced a “brutal” loss of $27.1 million for 2020 as COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the business.
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Alarmingly, RA chairman Hamish McLennan revealed that the governing body had even considered reverting to amateur status as the financial hits piled up.
But instead it looked to RWC 2027 as the “light on the hill” and claims that the tournament will generate $2.5 billion in “direct and indirect expenditure to the economy.”
“This potentially secures the future for rugby for a long, long time in this country,” said Kearns, RA’s bid executive director.
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“With the pathways we have with the Lions coming in ’25, the World Cup in ’27 and England arriving next year, this is a great growth opportunity for rugby in Australia.”
RA will now work in an exclusive partnership with World Rugby to further develop the tournament model, ahead of a final council vote in May next year.
Kearns was naturally thrilled with the progress but cautioned that it wasn’t quite game over yet.
“The last couple of years, a lot of work has gone into it,” Kearns told 2GB’s WWOS Radio.
“Last night’s result out of the World Rugby council meeting is just what we needed.
“We are in the 75th minute of the match mate, we have five minutes to go and we are leading so we have a little bit of work to do.
“We are pretty confident we will get it over the line.”
Australia co-hosted the inaugural World Cup in 1987 with New Zealand and also staged the tournament in 2003, when the Wallabies lost the final in extra time to England.
It now seems likely that the United States will host the World Cup for the first time in 2031 after entering “exclusive targeted dialogue” with World Rugby.
“The new Rugby World Cup model will see World Rugby take more direct responsibility for the delivery of the pinnacle events,” the governing body said.
The next men’s World Cup will be held in France in 2023.