Game on: Rugby Australia launches 2027 World Cup bid

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie says a bid to host the 2027 World Cup in Australia can redefine rugby's place in an Australian sporting landscape dominated by the AFL and NRL in winter.

Rugby Australia launched its bid at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday morning, and the tournament seems Australia's to lose with submissions of interest due to World Rugby by the end of the month.

A $2.5 million boost to the economy and more than two million attendees are among the promises made. The tournament would encompass 48 games played at eight to 10 venues over a seven-week period, with officials hoping more than 200,000 visitors will flock to Australia to view the spectacle.

But more pressing for the likes of Rennie and Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos is the chance to build a sustainable future for the sport.

MORE RUGBY UNION

"AFL is massive in this country, league is massive. There are lots of fans out there who know very little about our game because they're so absorbed with AFL," Rennie said.

"With massive events, whether it's the Olympic Games or something like that, the whole country becomes engrossed in it. It's a really good way to connect, a great stage for us to expose our game to the whole country."

Australia is considered the favourite to land the hosting rights despite whispers of interest coming from the United States and Russia.

It would mark Australia's first World Cup since 2003, which ended in heartbreak thanks to the boot of Englishman Jonny Wilkinson. But the mistakes of the past Rugby Australia want to learn from don't pertain to putting more pressure on a kicker.

They relate to off-field struggles the code has endured, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, causing drastic cost-cutting measures and a complete facelift of the domestic competition.

World Rugby will announce the host nation for the World Cup in May 2022, giving a host nation an ideal lead-in to build excitement around the tournament.

It would give Rugby Australia five years to build towards the tournament, allowing Rugby Australia to capitalise on marquee events like the British and Irish Lions tour in 2025 along the way.

"From day one I've been very deliberate and adamant about our need to rebuild the game from the bottom up, not necessarily from the top down," Marinos said.

"Having the impetus of a World Cup, and being able to build a sustainable legacy program that's going to underpin it becomes really important. It will be a really good opportunity to reset the rugby landscape.

"We've just got to be deliberate in our intent. Past administration had a different view. We've got the benefit of coming out of this COVID environment.

"The game has taken a significant impact, and we all understand the importance of if we don't have a strong foundation, if we don't have a strong pipeline of talent coming through, it's going to eventually hit us at the top when we want to be competitive as the Wallabies."

Australia co-hosted the 1987 tournament and held the 2003 World Cup, the latter of which drew 1.8 million spectators to matches, generating almost $200 million in ticket sales.

"This really puts a stake in the ground in terms of the future of our game," the bid's executive director Phil Kearns said.

"We had an opportunity in 2003, it didn't work out the way we wanted it to work out, but I think we have learnt a lot of lessons from the past there. This can be something really spectacular.

"Moving forward, some of the governance of the game will change moving forward and that was a hindrance in the past. Once we get those structures right in the game, it's a much better direction in terms of where money will go, that's probably the biggest lesson."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: