A lot has been said, written and done to ensure the 2031 Rugby World Cup is a huge hit in host nation the United States. World Rugby is hoping that staging mega international matches, Nations Championship finals and even domestic fixtures Stateside in the run-up can ensure that there is sufficient appetite for the quadrennial tournament four years on from what is bound to be a money-making success in Australia next autumn.
But the entire tournament is now at risk of being overshadowed or, worse, forgotten. Because rugby league is looking to steal union’s thunder by hosting part of the 2030 Rugby League World Cup in the United States.
Early announcements suggest that league could stage Magic Weekend-style match weeks – where six games take place in the same venue over two days – across the United States mainland and, interestingly, a number of Pacific Islands and Hawaii.
Not only does this tread on longstanding union land – Fiji, Samoa and Tonga have been playing 15s for decades although the latter two are increasingly being seen as league countries – but it also precedes union’s World Cup arrival in the United States.
League vs union
And while rugby union has staged international matches and hosted Prem Rugby fixtures in the US, league is much more present Stateside these days with an NRL-Super League double header each season in Las Vegas.
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SUBSCRIBE HEREInternational rugby league also appears to be more palatable for US sports fans. The rules are much more simple than both rugby union and the NFL, it is as physical as the others and it largely relies on simply counting to six. Even the newest of sports fans can do that.
Union, on the other hand, is a complex and nuanced being with every decision often one that has an argument for it to have been given the other way.
Union risks being left behind by rugby league and there is little it can do about it: making a noise may be offputting but failing to out-perform its rival World Cup having had the advantage of seeing what league offers could kill off the sport for an entire continent.
What rugby union has which league can only dream of, however, is a strong domestic game. Across Europe, the southern hemisphere and Japan there are competitive leagues with a proper presence elsewhere – including in the United States’ Major League Rugby competition.
England’s Super League hasn’t finalised a broadcast deal for next season yet – it is expected to be shared by Dazn and Sky Sports – and hasn’t yet formalised its structure or number of teams amid investment interest from the Australian NRL.
But even now the international game in rugby union is starting to suffocate that of rugby league. Did anyone know there was a Rugby League World Cup final this weekend, and has anybody watched much of the Premier Sports coverage?
Rugby union in Britain is currently enjoying its Saturdays being completely booked out by ITV for the Nations Championship – live rugby on terrestrial television from 12 noon through to 10pm every weekend this month. League could only dream of that.
Rugby union will not yet worry about its sibling; international rugby league is too small to be a commercial or broadcast threat while the domestic game isn’t wholesale enough to dent World Rugby coffers.
But bosses must be watchful of plans to take league World Cup matches to both union heartlands and areas the 15s game will be targeting within the next five years. Because to allow rugby league a head start is for rugby union to shoot itself in the foot. And it’s got far too much history of that for it to be unthinkable.