Rugby Union

Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) president Alfredo Gavazzi has said a bid is being prepared for the 2023 Rugby World Cup as part of a strategy in which Italy is also targeting the 2024 Olympic Games and the 2022 edition of golf showpiece the Ryder Cup.

Paul Goze, the president of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, has said that the auction for the domestic rights to the Top 14, the top division of rugby union in France, will take place before the end of January.

World Rugby has opened a tender process to find the host of its 2017 Women’s World Cup, which will be a special edition of the tournament tying in with the Olympic and World Cup Sevens cycles.

Samoa’s rugby players have denied claims that they have resolved a financial dispute with the Samoan Rugby Union despite the country’s Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, having said that a deal had been reached.

The addition of Argentine and Japanese franchises to the Super Rugby pan-regional club competition was officially confirmed today (Thursday), with Tokyo set to share hosting rights to the latter team with Singapore.

Rugby union’s global governing body has embarked on a new era by concluding its rebrand from the International Rugby Board (IRB) to World Rugby.

English Premiership rugby union team Wasps has acquired a 100 per cent shareholding in the Ricoh Arena, the Coventry venue that will become its home from next month.

Fourteen cities have submitted bids to host matches when Japan stages the Rugby World Cup in 2019, organisers announced today (Wednesday).

English Premiership club Leicester Tigers has committed to facing an all-star National Rugby Football League team next year in what will be the first major professional club rugby union game in the US ahead of the full launch of the NRFL domestic league in 2016.

The Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), the governing body of the Top 14, has announced that the final of the 2015-16 season of the top division of French club rugby union will be played at Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.

The Singapore Rugby Union (SRU) has reportedly clinched a four-year deal to host a leg of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) Sevens World Series national team tournament at its new National Stadium from 2015, with Paris and Vancouver set to join as fellow new entrants on the calendar.

USA Rugby, the national governing body for rugby union in the United States, has signed a 10-year partnership with the IMG agency which seeks to further boost the development of the sport in the country.

Japan is set to host Super Rugby’s 18th team when the pan-regional club competition expands in 2016 after organiser Sanzar confirmed today (Friday) that the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) had edged out a rival bid from Singapore.

Organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup have reported record demand after 950,000 tickets were sold in last month’s general sale round for the rugby union national team tournament.

Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori has expressed his concern that delays in the demolition of the city’s National Stadium will affect preparations for the Olympic Games, along with Japan’s hosting of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Former Wales international Gareth Davies has been elected as the new chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).