Rugby World Cup giantkillers Portugal have been promised a reward for their heroics at France 2023 with more fixtures against top sides. The Wolves, who have never played a Test against a Six Nations country, supplied the shock of the tournament with a dramatic win over quarter-finalists Fiji who will face England.
World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont confirmed on Tuesday plans to rework the global Test schedule to help turn the plucky minnows into genuine competitors by the 2031 World Cup in the USA.
“I want to assure everyone that the likes of Portugal, Samoa, Tonga, Uruguay, Chile and Georgia may be gone, but they are certainly not forgotten,” said World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont.
“We must and will do everything we can to provide greater certainty and opportunity of regular high-level competition for these teams. They are central to our discussions on a reimagined international calendar that will benefit the many, not the few.
“This, in turn, will enable us to arrive at Rugby World Cup 2031 in the United States anticipating a genuinely competitive and unpredictable Rugby World Cup which is great for fans, broadcasters and commercial partners.”
Portugal’s win provided one of the highlights of the pool stages which attracted a total of 1.84m fans – up eight per cent on Japan four years ago. There have been 1.1billion online views of Rugby World Cup content too which has already beaten the figure for the entire 2019 tournament.
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However there has been criticism of the length of the group stage and the number of blank days between games.
World Cup organisers have now confirmed they are considering moving to six pools of four for the 2027 tournament in Australia to trim a week off the group stage.
“This will definitely be one of the topics to be discussed,” said tournament director Michel Poussau.”
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