MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Russia intends to submit a bid for hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup, Stanislav Druzhinin, the director general of the Rugby Union of Russia (RUR), told TASS on Wednesday.
"There is a decision to organize the Rugby World Cup in Russia in 2027," Druzhinin said. "The criteria will be announced following the Congress [of the World Rugby], which is scheduled for October 31."
"We will be preparing a bid, this is a very complicated process with all entailing consequences, and we will be ready to submit the bid in 2020 or 2021," he continued. "This issue has already been raised by me in the government, we have been granted an approval and need to coordinate this issue with the Russian Sports Ministry."
The Rugby World Cup has been held once every four years since 1987 and Russia has never hosted this international tournament. The 2019 Rugby World Cup tournament is being hosted by 12 cities across Japan between September 20 and November 2 and the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be hosted by France.
Russia has qualified for this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan and was drawn into Group A alongside with the teams from Ireland, Samoa, Scotland and Japan.
However, the Russian team lost all of its four group stage matches, namely 10-30 to Japan, 9-34 to Samoa, 0-35 to Ireland, 0-61 to Scotland and finished in the last place of its Group A with zero points.
Druzhinin lauded the Russian team’s performance at this World Cup saying the squad played decently in all four matches.
"Our team has played decently in all four matches and the players did their utmost," he said in an interview with TASS. "It was all despite a relatively short period of training, since our national team has been preparing for this tournament for only eight months."
"The most important thing is that we have gained huge experience," he continued. "We have a very strong and promising team, which has inspired many other players in Russia."
"The matches of our team were broadcast on a federal television channel and we demonstrated that we have the sport of rugby in Russia. We will do everything possible to qualify for the 2023 World Rugby Cup in France," Druzhinin added.
Russia qualified for the Rugby World Cup series for the first time in 2011. The 2011 Rugby World Cup was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand and Russia did not clear the group stage losing all matches.
The national rugby squad missed the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, as it did not qualify for the global competition.