The World Rugby Executive Council has awarded New Zealand the hosting rights for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2021 (WRWC2021). Read more
The World Rugby Executive Council has awarded New Zealand the hosting rights for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2021 (WRWC2021). Read more
Rugby fans at Twickenham Stadium last weekend were the first to experience two new gateway entrances to the venue, with new turnstiles and welcome areas. Read more
The newly-built Rugby World Cup 2019 venue Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, has opened. Read more
The only newly built stadium for the Japan Rugby World Cup 2019 will open in August in the 2011 tsunami and earthquake devastated city of Kamaishi. Read more
World Rugby has announced the appointment of CC Grass, the world’s largest manufacturer of synthetic turf products, as a Preferred Turf Producer. Read more
The World Rugby Council today awarded the Rugby World Cup 2023 to France, which was selected following two rounds of voting during its interim meeting in London. Read more
South Africa is poised to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 after its bid was recommended as the winner by The Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) Board. Read more
World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont has hailed the Rugby World Cup 2023 bids as ‘exciting and impressive’ after the candidate unions presented their vision and plans to the World Rugby Council in London. Read more
A host of big names, including representatives of Lima 2019, World Rugby, West Ham and many others will be heading to the Major Events Summit 2017 in London. Read more
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) has chosen the 12 cities that will form part of its bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Read more
The Rugby World Cup 2023 host selection process has reached a new milestone this week with the first official World Rugby visit to a host candidate. Read more
World Rugby and the Japan Rugby 2019 organising committee have been looking ahead to an important year of preparation after Rugby World Cup 2019 marked 1,000 days to go. Read more
World Rugby has concluded its latest Rugby World Cup 2019 tournament review meetings in Tokyo and says it is satisfied with the organising committee’s hosting preparations. Read more
World Rugby has revealed that France, Ireland, Italy and South Africa have thrown their names into the ring to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Read more
World Rugby has appointed Rob Abernethy as General Manager for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium is set for a major upgrade to ensure it retains its position as a centre of excellence for rugby and athletics and continues to meet the needs of the wider sporting community.
At its meeting last month, the RFU Council approved a £57m (US$86.4m, €78.5m) strategy to invest in Artificial Grass Pitches (AGP), which will see 100 artificial, floodlit pitches installed across the country over a four-year period.
This is a significant capital investment, which will fund two types of pitches in locations across the UK to ensure maximum access and rugby participation:
While there are close to 700 AGPs in England, rugby can be played on less than 10% of them due to the others not complying with the World Rugby specifications for build and performance, which includes criteria such as ball bounce, head impact and carpet joint strength. Of the 10% that are usable, less than 10 are currently located on community rugby club sites.
The major driver for installing artificial pitches is to sustain and grow participation in the game against a backdrop of increasing pressure on natural turf pitches, changing player expectations, competition from other sports investing in artificial pitches and changing weather conditions.
Over the past four years, RFU data shows that wetter winters are having a serious impact on the rugby season, resulting in more games and training sessions being cancelled. In February 2014, 1,766 adult games were lost over two weekends due to bad weather and over 600 natural turf pitches remained unplayable for three weeks afterwards.
Steve Grainger, RFU Rugby Development Director, said:
With changing expectations and aspirations it is clear that rugby, like other sports, needs to provide playing surfaces that meet modern requirements.
Following Rugby World Cup 2015 there has been an upsurge in interest in rugby, not least from aspiring coaches, referees and young players, and this is an exciting opportunity to further develop our community rugby facilities.
The project will get underway with an initial six of the 60 rugby club pitches aiming to be operational by September 2016.
Source: http://www.rugbynetwork.net