Initially scheduled for October 23 to November 27 in England, the 16e edition of the Rugby Union World Cup has been postponed to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organizers announced Thursday, August 5.
“The 2021 Rugby World Cup and the UK government today announced their intention to host the flagship event of the Rugby League international calendar in 2022.”
“In the end, time and competing priorities forced us to make the most difficult decision to [notre] story “, said Jon Dutton, general manager of the tournament. “However, we are resilient, just like rugby union, and next year we will manage to host the best World Cup in history”, he pledged.
This change of schedule is not a surprise: as early as July, Australia and New Zealand announced that they would not participate in the competition due to fears. “For the health of the players and their safety” linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. The two teams therefore called for the postponement of the competition.
