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Today
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InternationalFrance

France to host 2025 Rugby League World Cup

Sam Burgess (R) of England pushes Billy Slater (L) of Australia during the rugby league World Cup men's final match between Australia and England in Brisbane on December 2, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Patrick HAMILTON

France have won the right to host the 2025 Rugby League World Cup, the first time the country will have staged the global event for more than half a century.

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The French Federation declared the news on Friday, saying that a press conference would be staged in Paris next Tuesday where French Prime Minister Jean Castex would announce details.

A statement from the Federation said: “The Prime Minister will announce the launch of the Rugby League World Cup, which will be organised by France in 2025.

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“This international event, which has not been organised in France for more than 50 years, will help promote the influence of French sport and is intended to incorporate the entire territory, by being organised in around 40 towns.”

The 2025 World Cup was due to become the first to be held in North America, which was provisionally awarded the tournament in 2016, but those plans were scrapped due to financial concerns.

Australia’s new International Rugby League chair Troy Grant announced last March his intention to take the World Cup back to France and the bid was officially launched in July.

It will be the 17th edition of the World Cup, which was first held in France in 1954 and again in 1972.

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It will be the third major sports event to be held in France in consecutive years, following the rugby union World Cup in 2023 and the Olympics in Paris in 2024.

The news also comes on the back of an upturn in fortunes of French Rugby League after a 2021 season in which Catalans Dragons reached a first Super League grand final and Toulouse Olympique gained promotion to the top flight.

There will be just three years in between the next two tournaments after the England-hosted 2021 World Cup was put back 12 months due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

England have pledged to make this year’s event the biggest and best World Cup while France have stated their intention to top that, with 16 teams in each of the men’s, women’s, wheelchair and youth competitions.

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Comments on RugbyPass

T
Td 19 minutes ago
This Springboks team still relies largely on vibes

Rassie is a genius and he knows that in order to give the boks the best chance at making 2027 a 3rd cup in a row, he has to blood a huge squad now to be able to see who is the best team for that prize. With that will come hiccups but if that is the price he and we will pay it.

One thing is for sure doing a traditional 5/3 split just yet again showed his understanding of the ingredients for each opposition they face. And he answers the critics that claim we are a one-trick pony proving that what he is perfecting is rugby science at its finest.

4 Go to comments
M
MM 19 minutes ago
Rassie Erasmus pinpoints what made the difference in tight Bok win

Niaaaahol is arsehole of the century us usual ..try harder jump higher

4 Go to comments
L
LW 24 minutes ago
All Blacks winger chimes in on GOAT debate after France defeat

Cam shaded him 100% and the guy is barely past his debut.

4 Go to comments
T
Tk 24 minutes ago
Scott Robertson labels newest All Black 'the future'

Great to see Lakai do so well in a huge test, perfectly placed now to take over as Cane moves on. Given the injuries and number of chances they have had I don't see Blackadder, Jacobsen or Papali'i as the answer to winning RWC-27 so we still need to find a big and physically imposing 6 and it may mean moving a lock.

4 Go to comments
j
johnz 25 minutes ago
‘We’re in control’: Ardie Savea reflects on All Blacks’ loss to France

True to a point, though the team that turned up at the start of the year would have been rolled by this French team, big time. This is a vastly improved side.

5 Go to comments
N
Nope 27 minutes ago
All Blacks winger chimes in on GOAT debate after France defeat

If you’re not willing to play in every national game on offer then you simply cannot be considered in the GOAT conversation, could you imagine Ritchie, Dan, Siya saying “nah, I don’t wanna travel for my team”, no, because it would never happen. The guy is good, GOAT? Absolutely not.

4 Go to comments
j
johnz 30 minutes ago
Scott Robertson labels newest All Black 'the future'

I hate to see a player go off like Finau with such a bad head knock, but it was great to see Lakai have almost a full game. He should have been starting in any case.


The trio of Savea, Sititi and Lakai offer so much around the park. Finau has a habit of being invisible. I guess their weakness is they lack a bit of height as a trio, but somehow they seem to manage. There's definitely no questions over their athleticism and work rate.

4 Go to comments
C
CO 30 minutes ago
‘We’re in control’: Ardie Savea reflects on All Blacks’ loss to France

Reality is fourth loss this year and could've easily been six

5 Go to comments
S
SouthRugga 34 minutes ago
'Who gives a crap?' Animosity towards the Springboks is proof of their dominance

All in good spirit of sport..we do the same when the All Blacks win 😂😂😂😂

29 Go to comments
D
DM 34 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

The ratings read like England won the game…

4 Go to comments
T
Tk 37 minutes ago
‘I’ll talk to Scott’: Scott Robertson reflects on Barrett’s late-game call

Hind sight is a wonderful thing. At the time, personally I thought going for the corner was best but understood taking the 3 with that much time on the clock. Overall game management however is still lacking we need a proper test match 10.

6 Go to comments
G
GrahamVF 39 minutes ago
The 'one difference' between Boks and the back-to-back All Blacks

I have mentioned this before but what have you seen of the Varsity Cup Competition. 20 varsity teams competing and world rugby using the competition as a new rules testing ground. Virtually every Bok came through that system starting with Etsebeth de Allende Kitshoff through to Fassi and Moodie. I have checked carefully there is nothing even close to that bridge building comp in NZ.

SA have 500 000 registered rugby players NZ about a quarter of that. In SA , The game is rapidly overtaking soccer in popularity among the non traditional rugby following public and that is unearthing an unbelievably rich vein of talent. On the other hand NZ's South Seas pool is shrinking as the islands get more and more top level international competition and fewer head for NZ as the only means of playing pro rugby. On top of it all NZ have an unanswerable dilemma over allowing overseas based players to represent the AB's. Razors pleas fell on deaf ears and that is the main reason why NZ will probably never see its golden era again. South Africa is evolving quickly - adapting to a changing sporting world. NZ is stuck in the middle ages and until you get a progressive top management the conservative grass chair brigade will see NZ rugby slowly get swallowed up by the likes of South Africa, France and if they could get rid of their grass chair brigade - even England. So in 10 years time we won't have an itch to scratch any more than the Colin Meads' generation of Kiwis had about never winning a series in SA as SA did in NZ in 37. The NZ Herald wrote an article saying the best rugby team to leave New Zealand was the 37 Springboks. The AB's had that itch for sixty years. We won't have our itch that long 😉

115 Go to comments
S
SouthRugga 39 minutes ago
'Who gives a crap?' Animosity towards the Springboks is proof of their dominance

Great article. Boks have peaked very well over the past 2 world cups. What Rassie has done well is to master the art and science of developing the strategies to leverage the depth of rugby skills in the country.

29 Go to comments
P
PC 41 minutes ago
The 'one difference' between Boks and the back-to-back All Blacks

Not even that. It will end up as vanilla as soccer, with cups being a real lottery. We can see the days of ab and sa dominance are over. Even now as we claim this greatness, the truth is rugby is a distant second winter sport to all our major opposition - England, France, Ireland, Argentina etc. I mean really france probably has the biggest claim to sporting greatness given the strength they show in both soccer and rugby.

115 Go to comments
H
Hellhound 41 minutes ago
The 'one difference' between Boks and the back-to-back All Blacks

Neither should they, especially after the English game. They played poorly. Their was no standout player in the game for the Boks except Kolbe and he made many many mistakes. They've got a long way to go. They played like they haven't played for 2 years, and they were playing very well in the RC. These Autumn nations games is just sub par. I'm happy they won both games, but I'm far from happy with their performances. They really did not play to their abilities. SA may have won the game, but the English was the better team.

115 Go to comments
C
ClintP 47 minutes ago
France outwrestle All Blacks in titanic Test for one-point win

Great game , two ludicrous decisions changed the game. Taylor was not obstructing, and the neck roll wasn’t a roll at all. Well done France.

34 Go to comments
P
PC 50 minutes ago
The 'one difference' between Boks and the back-to-back All Blacks

Yeah but you ignore one thing. Nz has been the standard forever. Teams want to beat the best. Every rwc 95-19, nz has been favoured to win. And so other teams targeted that nz game at finals time. No team since the 91 Australia have won a finals match against nz then gone on to win the next round of finals. It destroys them physically and mentally. Eg England flogged nz in 19 and then sa flogged them in the final. Yet nz flogged sa all season. I think this is a great sa team. One of the best ever. It's crazy that 3 points separated the 23 rwc win from dipping out at the same stage as Ireland. Those 3 points rellare all that separate greatness from good. Don't let it go to your head. The sa players certainly don't.

115 Go to comments
C
CO 50 minutes ago
‘I’ll talk to Scott’: Scott Robertson reflects on Barrett’s late-game call

The Allblacks are guilty of playing too much and squandering.


Gifting top teams runaway tries now every second tests and guys shelling passes with the try line open.


The French deserved this win, thoroughly owned upfront but fed off Allblacks sloppy plays to take a smart victory.


However world rugby needs to look at soft points being awarded for non existent neck rolls and obstruction.


Teams loading up on three pointers that are donated by match officials without the team threatening to score.


The Allblacks are needing to rotate the likes of DeGroot, fresh impact is better.

6 Go to comments
K
Kia koe 50 minutes ago
France player ratings vs All Blacks | Autumn Nations Series

Completely agree.... Theses earrings don't make sense... Lazy reviewing is what this article is

13 Go to comments
D
DC000 59 minutes ago
‘I’ll talk to Scott’: Scott Robertson reflects on Barrett’s late-game call

The adorable thing - France was the better team all match


Not a surprise - the Kiwis not comprehending this simple fact.

6 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'Who gives a crap?' Animosity towards the Springboks is proof of their dominance 'Who gives a crap?' Animosity towards the Springboks is proof of their dominance
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