Sydney to host 2027 Rugby World Cup final as Melbourne settles for last-16 games
Sydney to host 2027 Rugby World Cup final as Melbourne settles for last-16 games
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The eyes of the rugby world will again fall on Sydney after it was chosen to host the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup final, 24 years after the Wallabies’ heartbreaking defeat to England at the city’s Olympic Stadium. Accor Stadium at Homebush, with a capacity of 82,000, will again host the decider as well as the semi-finals, the third-place playoff and two quarter-finals at the 11th edition of the global showpiece, which will take place in Australia for the first time since 2003.
![[Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin and World Rugby chair Brett Robinson.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3f6589d02b9e283b5d8c1a1f9b416e7d11710532/0_0_4141_2761/master/4141.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
New South Wales is the biggest winner with 13 matches after a total of seven host cities were revealed by World Rugby and Rugby Australia on Thursday. Other matches in the state are to be played at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium and McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle.
Queensland, the country’s other hotbed of rugby union, will host 10 matches but missed out on the blue riband games due to Suncorp Stadium’s relatively limited capacity of 52,000. The Brisbane venue will instead host two quarter-finals as part of its 10 total matches.
Newcastle and Townsville have been awarded four pool matches each and Adelaide five, but any hopes of a final played in front of 100,000 fans at the MCG have been dashed, despite an initial push by the Victorian government for the centrepiece game to be played at Melbourne’s famous old ground.
The Victorian capital has instead been handed seven pool matches and two last-16 clashes as part of a last-minute deal with World Rugby that sees the city host a total of nine matches. “It wouldn’t be a World Cup without going to the ‘G’,” said World Rugby chair Brett Robinson. “Nine matches in Melbourne is fantastic and they are participating in a significant way in this tournament.”.
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