Devastated England players admitted to being stuck in the past as World Rugby unveiled its brave new future.
A World Cup expanded from 20 to 24 teams will launch in 2027 - the year after a Nations Championship, featuring the world’s top 12 sides and ring fenced until 2030, kicks off. The Six Nations will also shrink in length from seven weeks to six.
World Rugby boss Bill Beaumont hailed it as the “most significant development in the sport since the game went professional - a quantum leap forward” for rugby. But across town England players, preparing for Friday’s third place play-off with Argentina, were pre-occupied with trying to get over the devastation of their semi-final loss to South Africa.
Freddie Steward, who started the match with anthem tears and finished it with more of the same, admitted he had yet to come to terms with the disappointment.
“I’ve probably thought about it a couple of times an hour every day I’ve been awake since,” the Leicester fullback said. “It’s not something that’s going to be very easy to shake off.
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“We’re all devastated, we really are. We gave absolutely everything, fought tooth and nail out there. The challenge now is to put that behind us and focus on Friday.
England fullback Freddie Steward“It’s a balance between not trying to think about that too much and using some of the pain to try to really step up and make sure we go out there and do ourselves proud.”
Ben Earl agreed it would be “very, very hard” to go again given the end of their dream and said he had not worked out yet how to do it.
He thought they would “lean on each other” to give the players whose Test careers were ending “the send-off they deserve”.
England No.8 Ben Earl (AFP via Getty Images)Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs, Joe Marler, Danny Care and Dan Cole are among those expected to hang up their white jerseys - thereby missing the upcoming rugby revolution in both the men’s and women’s global calendar.
The new men’s competition will have 12 teams and pit the Six Nations elite against those from the Rugby Championship plus two teams, likely to be Japan and Fiji.
They will meet in the usual Test windows every two years from 2026, with the north heading south in July and the south making the return journey in November.
England players in shock at final whistle after last-gasp World Cup defeat to South AfricaThe two 'pool' winners will contest a grand final in Europe. The new format signals the end of traditional tours.
A second division of 12 as yet unnamed teams will also start in 2026, but with promotion and relegation only starting in 2030.
The proposal passed by just three votes with some disputing Beaumont’s claim that “this gives opportunity to every single country playing rugby around the world”.
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Portugal, in red, have been the minnow darlings of this World Cup and returned home to an ecstatic welcome (AFP via Getty Images)South America Rugby president Sebastian Pineyrua warned before the vote that it would be “the death of rugby.”
The one change that met with universal approval is pushing back the draw for the 2027 World Cup from December 2924 to January 2026.
The draw for this year's tournament caused fury as it was made three years out, leading to the worlds top five nations all being grouped in the same half.
Although the 2027 tournament in Australia will include four additional nations a round of 16 will be created and that adjustment will cut the duration from six weeks instead of the seven this time.
(PA)England rallied around Tom Curry last night as the flanker caught up in a racism storm was subjected to a tirade of abuse on social media.
World Rugby are still investigating the Sale star’s allegation of racial abuse in response to a request from the Rugby Football Union.
Neither England nor South Africa, whose hooker Bongi Mbonambi stands accused, are able to comment on the case while it remains open.
(Getty Images)But that has not stopped Curry being trolled online, branded a racist and a liar and called every name under the sun.
The 25-year old is due to win his 50th cap in Friday’s third place play-off against Argentina but at this stage it is unclear whether he will play.
Richard Wigglesworth, England’s attack coach, insisted Curry was not alone as he waited for a resolution in the matter.
(Getty Images)“Tom is good,” he said. “He’s obviously been thrown into it, but he’s a very, very impressive young man.
“The other players will have got round him. Steve [Borthwick] and the management team have been all over it. I’m sure he’s getting every bit of the support that he needs.
“I’m not sure you can ever put yourself in those shoes and know how it feels but what I do know is that he’s an impressive young man who, if selected on Friday, will pour everything into that England shirt as he has done on the other 49 occasions.”
Asked if England and the RFU had felt Curry’s claim that he was called a “white c***” during Saturday’s semi-final was too serious to ignore, Wigglesworth said: “That's definitely one for World Rugby.
“They've been pretty vocal in following up things in the past and they need to do the same again.”
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