SPORTS tournaments and big nights in go hand in hand and with every match in the 2015 Rugby World Cup being shown live on ITV there are going to be many opportunities for big nights in (or afternoons in some cases) between 18 September and 31 October.
The organiser of the 2015 tournament says it’s the third biggest sporting event in the world – behind the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. The schedule involves 20 nations in four pools then the winner and runner-up from each pool go into the knock-out stages.
The Rugby World Cup is said to have attracted a worldwide television audience of 300 million for the inaugural 1987 tournament and hit 4bn during the 2007 tournament in France, with 33m watching that year’s final.
Scotland has played in every Rugby World Cup and recorded its best finish in 1991 with fourth place. The Scots squad has qualified for the quarter-finals in every tournament, except the most recent, in 2011.
This year we’ve been drawn in Pool B with Japan, USA, South Africa and Samoa. The full schedule is on this page and we’ve highlighted the Scottish pool matches to help retailers plan ahead.
Outside of the Scotland matches some of the most attractive pool matches are likely to be: England v Wales on the evening of Saturday 26 September; England v Australia on the evening of Saturday 3 October; Australia v Wales on Saturday 10 October; and France v Ireland on Sunday 11 October.
On page 60 we look at some of the marketing and promotional work being planned by key brands for the period of Rugby World Cup.
|
|
Pool |
Date  |
Kick-off |
Venue |
Match |
|
1 |
A |
Fri 18 Sept |
20:00 |
Twickenham, London |
England v Fiji |
|
2 |
C |
Sat 19 Sept |
12:00 |
Gloucester |
Tonga v Georgia |
|
3 |
D |
|
14:30 |
Cardiff |
Ireland v Canada |
|
4 |
B |
|
16:45 |
Brighton |
South Africa v Japan |
|
5 |
D |
|
20:00 |
Twickenham, London |
France v Italy |
|
6 |
B |
Sun 20 Sept |
12:00 |
Brighton |
Samoa v USA |
|
7 |
A |
|
14:30 |
Cardiff |
Wales v Uruguay |
|
8 |
C |
|
16:45 |
Wembley, London |
New Zealand v Argentina |
|
9 |
B |
Wed 23 Sept |
14:30 |
Gloucester |
SCOTLAND v Japan |
|
10 |
A |
|
16:45 |
Cardiff |
Australia v Fiji |
|
11 |
D |
|
20:00 |
Olympic Park, London |
France v Romania |
|
12 |
C |
Thu 24 Sept |
20:00 |
Olympic Park, London |
New Zealand v Namibia |
|
13 |
C |
Fri 25 Sept |
16:45 |
Gloucester |
Argentina v Georgia |
|
14 |
D |
Sat 26 Sept |
14:30 |
Leeds |
Italy v Canada |
|
15 |
B |
|
16:45 |
Birmingham |
South Africa v Samoa |
|
16 |
A |
|
20:00 |
Twickenham, London |
England v Wales |
|
17 |
A |
Sun 27 Sept |
12:00 |
Birmingham |
Australia v Uruguay |
|
18 |
B |
|
14:30 |
Leeds |
SCOTLAND v USA |
|
19 |
D |
|
16:45 |
Wembley, London |
Ireland v Romania |
|
20 |
C |
Tue 29 Sept |
16:45 |
Exeter |
Tonga v Namibia |
|
21 |
A |
Thu 1 Oct |
16:45 |
Cardiff |
Wales v Fiji |
|
22 |
D |
|
20:00 |
Milton Keynes |
France v Canada |
|
23 |
C |
Fri 2 Oct |
20:00 |
Cardiff |
New Zealand v Georgia |
|
24 |
B |
Sat 3 Oct |
14:30 |
Milton Keynes |
Samoa v Japan |
|
25 |
B |
|
16:45 |
Newcastle |
South Africa v SCOTLAND |
|
26 |
A |
|
20:00 |
Twickenham, London |
England v Australia |
|
27 |
C |
Sun 4 Oct |
14:30 |
Leicester |
Argentina v Tonga |
|
28 |
D |
|
16:45 |
Olympic Park , London |
Ireland v Italy |
|
29 |
D |
Tue 6 Oct |
16:45 |
Leicester |
Canada v Romania |
|
30 |
A |
|
20:00 |
Milton Keynes |
Fiji v Uruguay |
|
31 |
B |
Wed 7 Oct |
16:45 |
Olympic Park, London |
South Africa v USA |
|
32 |
C |
|
20:00 |
Exeter |
Namibia v Georgia |
|
33 |
C |
Fri 9 Oct |
20:00 |
Newcastle |
New Zealand v Tonga |
|
34 |
B |
Sat 10 Oct |
14:30 |
Newcastle |
Samoa v SCOTLAND |
|
35 |
A |
|
16:45 |
Twickenham, London |
Australia v Wales |
|
36 |
A |
|
20:00 |
Manchester |
England v Uruguay |
|
37 |
C |
Sun 11 Oct |
12:00 |
Leicester |
Argentina v Namibia |
|
38 |
D |
|
14:30 |
Exeter |
Italy v Romania |
|
39 |
D |
|
16:45 |
Cardiff |
France v Ireland |
|
40 |
B |
|
20:00 |
Gloucester |
USA v Japan |
|
41 |
|
Sat 17 Oct |
16:00 |
Twickenham, London |
Quarter-final 1 |
|
42 |
|
|
20:00 |
Cardiff |
Quarter-final 2 |
|
43 |
|
Sun 18 Oct |
13:00 |
Cardiff |
Quarter-final 3 |
|
44 |
|
|
16:00 |
Twickenham, London |
Quarter-final 4 |
|
45 |
|
Sat 24 Oct |
16:00 |
Twickenham, London |
Semi-final 1 |
|
46 |
|
Sun 25 Oct |
16:00 |
Twickenham, London |
Semi-final 2 |
|
47 |
|
Fri 30 Oct |
20:00 |
Olympic Park, London |
Bronze final |
|
48 |
|
Sat 31 Oct |
16:00 |
Twickenham, London |
FINAL |
