RWC 2015 - Wales home advantage

[scrumpox2]

The Millennium Stadium is one of the venues for RWC 2015 to host several pool games and 2 of the quarter finals. It is commercially obvious that Wales would play their group games at home.

With stock in Welsh rugby rising, and the possibility of Wales occupying a top 4 position in the IRB rankings it comes as no surprise that the other top tier nations are now worrying about potential Welsh home advantage at RWC 2015.

Is it really the other top 3 (NZ, Aus and SA) who are worried about this, or is it England? If Wales are seeded top of their pool and England are ranked 5-8, there's the distinct possibility that England could be drawn in the Welsh pool and have to play Wales in the Millennium Stadium in the group phase. Not really the home advantage that England are supposed to have is it?

So there's an agreement that Wales will not play in the Millennium against other top tier nations. Is this fair on lower tier nations? Or is this purely about securing home field advantage for England in all their games?

 

[Simon Thomas]

It smacks of RFU wanting to have all the benefits of any match v Wales - home advantage and all commercial revenues at Twickenham. Use of Millenium offers a new population to tap for attendance and a world class high capacity stadium for Welsh home games to maximise revenue (less WFU retained share).

I am not sure at what stage the 'agreement' Dave refers to was negotiated and agreed, but commercially England will want to retain all top tier matches even at the Pool stages to maximise crowd receipts, and associated hospitality revenues.

After the financial disaster of RWC 2011 in New Zealand, both RFU and IRB need to max revenue & profits in 2015.

 

[scrumpox2]

There was an interview with Roger Lewis on Sport Wales in which this was reported. Also,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17233462

From Martyn Thomas's comments, this seems to have much less to do with the southern hemisphere than England.

If this is revenue driven then Wales' games against the top tier will be at either Twickers or Wembley. They'll player lower tier nations at the Millennium to maximise ticket sales.

Tough on the lower tier nations again isn't it?

 

[FlipFlop]

If you bid to have a RWC, they you want all the benefits that entails. Financial and sporting. I can easily see that England would have insisted that if they had to play any other country they had granted hosting rights to, then the game would be in England. Home advantage for the players, and those games (could only be Wales, Scotland, Ireland & France - as our neighbours) would draw the large crowds, so rightly the RFU would want them at home to maximise revenue. Afterall the RFU is on the hook to the IRB for the money.

This is not a shared RWC. England are hosting, but have agreed to host some games outside England (with permission of IRB). Technically there was no reason to agree to this (although politically to win votes is a different story).

Can't see any other country who is sole host ever agreeing to play any of their games away from their home country (if stadium in other countries are being used).

 

[crossref]

who remembers the world cup in 2007 when scotland sold their soul vote in return for a home fixture against the All Blacks .. and then didn't turn up for it?

sport's a funny thing.

 

[Taff]

As far as I'm concerned, if they keep up their current form, we'll play anyone .... anywhere. :biggrin:

 

[menace]

Is it really the other top 3 (NZ, Aus and SA) who are worried about this, or is it England? If Wales are seeded top of their pool and England are ranked 5-8, there's the distinct possibility that England could be drawn in the Welsh pool and have to play Wales in the Millennium Stadium in the group phase. Not really the home advantage that England are supposed to have is it?

I can't see Aus giving a damn...they're used to not having much support...even at home vs ABs most of the crowd seem to be NZers :wtf::shrug:

 

[Dickie E]

I can't see Aus giving a damn...they're used to not having much support...even at home vs ABs most of the crowd seem to be NZers :wtf::shrug:

sad but true. You should have seen all the feral kiwis at the 7s on Gold Coast. No wonder we got flogged :frown: