Key insights from the upcoming Rugby World Cup 2023
Rugby World Cup is an iconic competition for any rugby fan. But the past few years have been brutal not only for rugby, but for other sports as well due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And finally, we can return to a full-fledged sporting event experience with the upcoming Rugby World Cup 2023.
And before the tournament starts, we want to give you some insights. You will see where the tournament is held, the participants and many other exciting details!
Where can you watch the Rugby World Cup 2023?
The Rugby World Cup 2023 does not share the rights to stream its games with anyone. So you will struggle to find a source to watch free RWC games. But New Zealand has plenty of TV/Internet services streaming matches; you just need to buy a pass.
For example, Spark Sports is a well-known internet streaming service with rights to most sporting events, including RWC. If you use Spark you will be charged $25 per single game or up to $100 for an extended pass. Watching rugby matches through a web browser is very convenient as you can always switch tabs and play in one Mr Bet casino canada while the game is paused.
Time and location of the event
The Rugby World Cup 2023 is scheduled from September 8 to October 28 and will take place in France. The event takes us to 8 different locations across the country. The first one Stade de France: a beautiful national France stadium in Paris and considered one of the largest stadiums in Europe. This field has seen many world class events such as FIFA and Rugby World Cups and the 2023 RWC will complement that. The other stadiums where the event will take place are Marseille, Decines Charpieu, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, Bordeaux, Saint Ettiene, Nice, Nantes and Toulouse.
A place to hold the RWC 2023 was selected from six participants who have been able to bid since 2015. Although France was one of the last countries to make its bid on February 9, 2017, it still won.
The qualification process
The 2023 Rugby World Cup will classically have 20 participants from all over the world. As usual, 12 teams are initially placed in RWC after reaching the top 3 in their 2019 RWC pool. At the same time, France is in a safe place, having been automatically admitted to the tournament as hosts.
The remaining eight places in the tournament are determined by the regional leagues and then the inter-regional play-offs. Also, a final team entered the event as the winner of the second chance tournament in November 2022.
As a result, the eight qualifiers are Namibia, Georgia, Romania, Portugal, Samoa, Tonga, Uruguay and Chile.
The pool draw
To make the playing pools as fair as possible, the teams are seeded according to their World Rugby rankings. So the first band consists of South Africa, New Zealand, Wales and England; the second among Ireland, Australia, France and Japan; the third of Scotland, Argentina, Fiji and Italy; the fourth Samoa, Georgia, Uruguay and Tonga; the fifth from Namibia, Romania, Chile and Portugal.
The bands look promising, especially the first one, where three of the four teams have previously won in the RWC. So it would be exciting to watch a battle between teams from New Zealand and South Africa, both of whom have recently won and are in great shape.
