Rugby World Cup 2015 Schedule to be Announced Today

[RWC2011Fan]

Looking forward to seeing it. Looks as though Cardiff is to host 8 matches, including two quarter finals. Seems like it's being used in a similar fashion to the Cake Tin in 2011 and the Telstra Dome in '03. Two of the matches it'll be hosting will be Wales' games against the two qualifiers, one of which is likely to Fiji. They (Fiji) may have some words to say about Wales and there home advantage, should they choose to show up like they did in '07. The Olympic Stadium also may be hosting around 4 games and potentially the Bronze Final. Really hoping that St. James' Park, Leicester City Stadium, Falmer Stadium, Sandy Park, Kingsholm Stadium and Stadium MK are all involved in the tournament. Pretty sure Wembley, Olympic, Etihad and of course Twickenham are already confirmed. EDIT: Looks like Fiji will be the ones who open the tournament: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...ents-for-hosts-England-at-2015-World-Cup.html

 

[RWC2011Fan]

Schedule's out: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/mm/Doc...azone/02/06/65/07/rwc-2015-match-schedule.pdf Errr, Ireland vs. Europe 2 at Wembley? Is that really gonna sell 90,000 tickets?

 

[psychic duck]

Unfortunately Millennium Stadium get masses of the tournament, 8 games. Second most used behind Twickenham.

Ireland v Canada/USA
Wales v Play Off Winner
Australia v Fiji
Wales v Fiji
New Zealand v Georgia
France v Ireland

Quarter Final 1 (Winner Pool C v Runner Up Pool D)
Quarter Final 3 (Winner Pool D v Runner Up Pool C)

Meanwhile, English places like Manchester only gets 1 game.

 

[Tony Manx]

Unfortunately Millennium Stadium get masses of the tournament, 8 games. Second most used behind Twickenham.

Ireland v Canada/USA
Wales v Play Off Winner
Australia v Fiji
Wales v Fiji
New Zealand v Georgia
France v Ireland

Quarter Final 1 (Winner Pool C v Runner Up Pool D)
Quarter Final 3 (Winner Pool D v Runner Up Pool C)

Meanwhile, English places like Manchester only gets 1 game.

That is what you get when the delegates have to play politics to get the votes to win the games..................there is always a quid pro quo and obviously the Welsh drove a good bargain just like they did when they got the All Blacks games to vote for New Zealand against Japan!!

 

[nickdnz]

All Blacks schedual looks a tad easy -

New Zealand v Argentina, September 20, Wembley Stadium, London
New Zealand v Africa 1, September 24, Olympic Stadium, London
New Zealand v Europe 1 October 2, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
New Zealand v Tonga October 9, St James Park, Newcastle

We have to get passed Argentina - but after that its pretty smooth sailing. We have never to my knowledge had an official test match against any other African team besides South Africa (and before sifplay comments Rhodesia wasn't a test match - and it was a very shitty AB team in extremely difficult touring conditions).

 

[Nielsch]

I thought they said they were gonna fix the schedule for tier 2 and 3 countries? Yet what do we get for pool rounds 3 and 4?

Play-off winner: matches on October 6 and October 10
Americas 2: matches on October 7 and October 11
Africa 1: matches on October 7 and October 11
Europe 2: matches on October 6 and October 11

Etc... etc... etc...

England and Australia: matches on October 3 and October 10
New Zealand: matches on October 2 and October 9
Ireland: matches on October 4 and October 11

Etc... etc... etc...

Don't say you're gonna fix it when obviously you won't

 

[psychic duck]

I thought they said they were gonna fix the schedule for tier 2 and 3 countries? Yet what do we get for pool rounds 3 and 4?

Play-off winner: matches on October 6 and October 10
Americas 2: matches on October 7 and October 11
Africa 1: matches on October 7 and October 11
Europe 2: matches on October 6 and October 11

Etc... etc... etc...

England and Australia: matches on October 3 and October 10
New Zealand: matches on October 2 and October 9
Ireland: matches on October 4 and October 11

Etc... etc... etc...

Don't say you're gonna fix it when obviously you won't

Neilsch. To be fair, it's a lot better than it was any time before. In 2011 the 4th and 5th seeds in the pool got quite a tight schedule, this time it is only the 5th seed in the pool who has to worry. Worst though was 2003, when a side like Argentina had finished their schedule at the same time England had only played half their pool games.

 

[The big Kangaroo]

Im so happy to see this!!!!!! i was worried that the wallabies would come against wales at Home. At least for Wales it will be a short trip home

 

[ZeFrenchy]

I'm particularly unhappy about Wales vs. Fiji being played in Wales. That game may decide direct qualification for RWC 2019.

 

[psychic duck]

I'm particularly unhappy about Wales vs. Fiji being played in Wales. That game may decide direct qualification for RWC 2019.

Australia aren't because they moaned about it and got what they wanted. But unfortunately for Fiji they don't have enough power to be listened to, I don't think any side would rather play in Wales apart from Wales. Especially since going by 2007, and the Fiji Canada, Japan Wales matches, it will likely not be a poor atmosphere and not near full.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Poor that Manchester only gets one game - however this may have been down to stadiums rather than IRB not choosing it.
I imagine they'd have wanted two games there, as they've got two in Leeds and Newcastle, but Old Trafford said no due to the pitch, maybe Manchester City said only one game no more.

Still, only five games in the whole of the North of England, yet 8 in Cardiff...

 

[big ginger 8]

Sat Sep 19 - Millennium Stadium
Ireland v Americas 1

Sun Sep 27 - Wembley Stadium
Ireland v Europe 2

Sun Oct 4 - Olympic Stadium
Ireland v Italy

Sun Oct 11 - Millennium Stadium
France v Ireland

Eerily similar to 2007 in some ways. Hopefully we'll fare a bit better.

Really hope to be able to go to some matches.

 

[LittleGuy]

Can the organziing commitee drop the pretense and call this for what it really is RWC 2015 England and Wales!!!!

 

[Thingimubob]

Surprised that there's 8 games in Cardiff, I expected only 4 or 5 at most with only 1 QF! Might have something to do with the football teams being stingy with how many games are allowed at their stadium?
Also who will decide ticket prices for Cardiff games, RFU or WRU? If they make the games in Cardiff reasonable, people will show up and you will get a good crowd. I went to the Wales vs Japan game in '07 and had to fork out something like £25 for a seat up in the gods, and I heard the best seats were anything up to £60 - £70, which is more than what you'll pay for most AI matches. Tried to go to Fiji-Canada match too, but the £30 ones I found was out of my price range at the time! Prices need to be much better than that.
Not bothered about having our big games in Twikers either, we've won there recently and certainly an win there again

 

[RedWhiteGreen]

Would have been preferable to have one of Cardiff's quarters at another venue (Wembley or Manchester), but that could have something to do with the Old Trafford pullout.

Also, there's a case for having the opening match at a venue that's easier for transport than Twickenham for a weeknight match (Olympic Stadium or Wembley in all likelyhood).

As for the midweek games, well, that's going to always be an issue as long as there are five team groups.

 

[Nielsch]

I really don't get the inclusion of the smaller stadiums like Kingsholm and Sandy Park and the matches scheduled at these venues.

- Argentina vs. (probably) Georgia in Kingsholm? Seriously? That match drew 40.000 spectators at the 2007 RWC in France and now it's being played in a 16.000 seater venue?
- Africa 1 vs. Europe 1 at Sandy Park? Why? In 2007 this match (Georgia vs. Namibia) attracted a crowd of 32.500 people.
- Italy vs. (probably) Romania at Sandy Park as well? 12.300 seats for a match that drew 44.240 people in 2007! Surely they must be joking!

Also, why is Wembley only used twice and the relatively small Olympic Stadium four times, which will be a football stadium come the world cup but apparently that isn't a problem? Ireland - Italy could have easily been played at the former and it would probably still sell-out.

 

[Nielsch]

Anyway, I really wanted to visit Liverpool and Manchester as one can get cheap easyJet flights from Amsterdam to those places, but since 0 matches are being played at Anfield and only 1 in Manchester I've dropped that plan

So now I'm probably gonna go for Milton Keynes and London and visit France - USA (if they qualify as Americas 1) at Stadium MK, England - Australia at Twickenham (if I can get tickets) and Ireland - Italy at the Olympic Stadium.

Another option for me would be New Zealand - Tonga and Samoa - Scotland in Newcastle. I'm just afraid there won't be a real world cup buzz in Newcastle like there will be in London.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I think someone ****ed up the initial contracting with the football stadiums, allowing them to simply pull out.
Hence so many matches being played at the Millennium.

 

[RWC2011Fan]

The impact the football season has had on this tournament is pretty clear in the way the matches have been allocated. A lot of football grounds that are hosting two matches are both scheduled for a single weekend, rather than being spread out across the tournament. Wembley hosting NFL doesn't help either, which is why the 90,000 capacity ground ended up with such weird fixtures (NZL vs. ARG, IRE vs. EURO 2). I was really hoping England would play at least one other game outside of Twickenham, England vs. Wales or Australia at Wembley would've been nice.

All of the club rugby grounds seem to have gotten a pretty decent selection of games, Elland Road on the other hand...
Not sure how I feel about Cardiff receiving so many games. I feel like a lot of the games could be hosted by other venues, but then again availability due to the football season was probably a huge factor. Either way, France vs. Ireland under the roof is sure to be electric.

Speaking of which, I'm curious to see how the World Cup holds up against football. I hope it won't have a negative impact on the size of the crowds.

Not sure why everyone in the press is *****ing over the lack of rugby grounds. It could've been a lot worse, but I thought 4 stadiums is pretty good going. That, and the 2007 World Cup didn't use a single rugby ground and no one seems to have had any issues with this- although the stadium in Toulouse may as well be considered a rugby ground.

 

[Nielsch]

The football ground issue will also be a problem when Italy wants to host a World Cup.