France Rugby World Cup 2023
We’ve returned from our journey to France to attend the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It’s a enjoyable worldwide occasion that occurs each 4 years, much like the FIFA World Cup. Though, the rugby event takes about 7 weeks, from begin to end.
Total, we thought France did an excellent job internet hosting the occasion. No less than, that was our expertise through the time of our go to. Our journey to France was in mid-September, through the early pool stage when extra video games being performed.
There are a number of host cities for the France World Cup, together with Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux and Good.
It’s clear that France has a ardour for the game, notably within the south, which is the place we stayed.
We spent one week in Good. Throughout our time there, we attended two reside matches and watched a couple of video games on the Rugby Village and at varied eating places and brasseries.
On this submit, we share our expertise attending the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Why attend the France Rugby World Cup?
We are sometimes requested this query. After we introduced that we might be attending the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, many individuals requested us why? Learn our response on this submit.
After returning house from that journey to Japan, we determined to attend the subsequent world cup in 2023. France is a simple journey vacation spot and our boys could be 4 years older. So we entered the lottery for tickets and crossed our fingers that we’d get a Canada match.
Rugby is just not a prime sport in Canada. It has a loyal following, but it surely’s not often televised and there few reside video games to attend. Nonetheless, Canada has made 9 straight appearances on the Rugby World Cup.
Up till this world cup, that’s. Sadly, our house crew misplaced within the qualifying levels, which eradicated them from the France event.
Associated submit – Our expertise attending the Rugby World Cup in Japan
We discovered a bunch of loopy Canadians on the Wales v Portugal match in Good.
Rugby World Cup host metropolis – Good, France
When planning our France journey, we needed to contemplate the schedule of matches and areas of host cities. Whereas some cities look shut on a map, the journey time between every metropolis can simply eat up a day.
We didn’t need to bounce across the nation each different day. So we needed to make some robust choices.
Nearly all of video games are performed on Saturday and Sunday. This has an impression as a result of some host cities have 4, 5 and even 11 days between matches.
Finally, we landed on Good as our first selection. It was a simple determination as a result of, properly, it’s Good! A prime France journey vacation spot by itself.
After a number of unsuccessful rounds of making an attempt to safe tickets, we lastly received a household pack (4 tickets) for 2 video games in Good. It’s not straightforward getting tickets. And the method is unnecessarily sophisticated.
There’s loads of signage welcoming guests to Good for the World Cup. We like seeing the indicators. It makes you are feeling such as you’re attending one thing massive.
We felt that the signage and pleasure was lacking on the 2019 Japan Rugby World Cup. France was a lot totally different. It has a world occasion vibe and vitality.
The streets of Vieux Good, the historic outdated city, has a vibrant and festive environment. A whole lot of followers, principally from Wales, crammed the streets and eating places the day earlier than the large match in opposition to Portugal.
Followers benefit from the New Zealand All Blacks match at an outside restaurant in Vieux Good.
It wasn’t straightforward to search out accessible seats at eating places that televised the sport with audio. However after a lot looking out, we discovered a terrific spot to absorb the environment.
Stade de Good – Allianz Riviera, Good
The 4 matches in Good are performed at Allianz Riviera stadium, additionally also called Stade de Good (as a consequence of worldwide sponsorship rules).
The stadium is reworked from its traditional house of OGC Good, the Olympique Gymnaste Membership de Good skilled soccer membership (French soccer crew in Ligue 1).
The climate in Good was principally scorching and sunny throughout our go to – EXCEPT throughout match days!
Sure, that’s day(s). Plural. It rained closely earlier than and through BOTH matches we attended.
We’re from Vancouver, the place it rains from November to April. So the rain didn’t trouble us an excessive amount of.
Luckily, the seating inside Stade de Good is roofed, which protects visitors from the rain. See the picture under for a large angle view of the Good rugby stadium.
Nonetheless, we didn’t like that visitors are allowed to smoke contained in the stadium. This appeared so overseas to us. We had been shocked the primary time we smelled somebody smoking beside us. Smoking indoors doesn’t occur in Canada anymore.
A lot of stairs to climb to get this picture! There are not any elevators (for basic public, there’s for folks with disabilities) or escalators, so you should stroll up a number of flights of stairs.
This Good stadium has a capability of 36,178 folks.
Meals and beverage at Stade de Good throughout Rugby World Cup.
Beer is served in plastic memento cups (see picture under). The cups have flags of every nation taking part in on the Good stadium. Every cup prices 2 Euros. The intent is for visitors to re-use the cups, when attainable.
We introduced 4 of those cups house as a memento from the world cup in France.
Beer man! Occasion organizers took beer distribution to the subsequent stage with these intelligent keg-backpacks.
A number of beer salespeople walked across the stadium filling up your plastic cups. We desire draught beer over cans of beer (that are widespread at North America stadiums), so we expect it is a nice concept.
Earlier than the sport, this man had hassle promoting his beer. By half time, he had dozens of individuals lining as much as get freshly poured beer. And the road didn’t cease till the sport ended! He needed to swap backpacks with recent beer a number of occasions to maintain up with demand.
The meals and beer traces on the stadium are very lengthy. Some wait occasions had been over half-hour.
Dwell Rugby World Cup match – Wales vs Portugal
Our first reside match in Good is Wales v Portugal. Main as much as this match, we noticed a whole lot (perhaps 1000’s?) of Wales followers wandering round Ville Good proudly sporting their crew’s jersey.
Initially, we thought the stadium could be principally Wales followers. Nonetheless, whereas there have been definitely a majority of Welsh followers, there was additionally a number of Portugal followers within the crowd.
We love going to video games the place fan assist is comparatively equal. Each deal with, each kick, each rating ends in loud cheering. It’s a enjoyable environment!
Though Portugal put up a battle, ultimately, the ultimate result’s Wales 28-8. See match recap right here.
Pre-game beer in our fancy new Good memento cups. Extra images from this match right here.
Okay, so perhaps there have been extra Wales followers in attendance at this match.
Discover the rain is gone and the solar got here out! This fan loves the sunshine.
Dwell Rugby World Cup match – Italy vs Uruguay
Our second reside rugby match in Good is a couple of days later. The primary match (Wales v Portugal) is on Saturday, and this match is on Wednesday. This can be a massive purpose why we selected to attend these explicit matches. It meant much less hole between matches.
This was a extremely entertaining match. Going into the half, Uruguay was up 17-7.
Nonetheless, Italy got here on sturdy within the second half and gained the match convincingly. Right here’s the match recap and highlights.
Watch this quick reel from the Italy vs Uruguay match in Good, France.
Pre-game household selfie at discipline stage. Our seats for this match had been nice. About 15 rows from the sector.
Sturdy Italy assist at this match. This is smart, provided that Good is simply 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the French-Italian border.
See extra images from the Uruguay vs Italy match.
Followers watch the large display as a penalty is being evaluated.
Good Rugby Village
Each host metropolis at France Rugby World Cup has a Rugby Village. These villages present the reside rugby matches on massive screens so followers can come collectively to observe and have fun. These venues additionally supply meals, drinks, leisure and official merchandise shops.
We visited the Good Rugby Village for a France vs Uruguay match. It was a packed venue that night! I’d estimate a couple of thousand folks confirmed as much as watch the sport.
The Good Rugby Village is simply open for 16 days, between 8 September and 28 October, 2023. Examine the schedule right here.
We made the error of assuming that the village is open for each match. This isn’t the case.
Extra data concerning the Good Rugby Village right here.
The Théâtre de Verdure de Good is a snug spot to observe the rugby matches.
Stade de Marseille – Velodrome Stadium, Marseille
The spectacular Stade de Marseille, also called Stade Vélodrome or Orange Velodrome, has a seat capability of 67,847. It’s the second largest stadium in France (behind Stade de France in Paris).
Though the stadium is dressed for Rugby World Cup matches, see images above and under, we had been really in Marseille to attend a soccer match.
The stadium is house to Olympique de Marseille (or OM), a French skilled soccer membership primarily based in Marseille that competes in Ligue 1.
As a result of we had a 3 day hole between rugby matches, we determined to do an in a single day journey to Marseille. It’s solely a 2.5 hour practice from Good to Marseille.
We watched the Marseille vs Toulouse match.
Watch this quick reel to see the eagerness of Marseille followers. Insanity! It’s enjoyable to witness… from a distance.
Marseille Rugby Village, positioned at Vieux Port.
After the soccer match, we meant to go to the Marseille Rugby Village to observe the England v Japan recreation. Nonetheless, the venue was closed?
The village was open earlier that day, so we had been stunned that it was closed after we returned later that day. Maybe it had one thing to do with the soccer match being performed that night? We aren’t certain. Regardless, it was disappointing.
We like seeing the Coupe du monde de Rugby indicators all through the host cities.
As a result of the Rugby Village was closed, we determined to observe the sport outdoor at a brasserie.
Many brasseries in Marseille have televisions taking part in the rugby matches. It’s good to take a seat outdoor and watch the sport with different followers.
Nonetheless, we aren’t followers of the smoking guidelines in France. The French don’t care in the event that they blow smoke straight in your face, or your youngsters’s face. It’s fairly gross.
Paris Rugby Village
The most important Rugby Village on the France World Cup is in Paris. This venue is open for 25 days through the world cup, between 8 September and 28 October, 2023.
After our time in Good, we took the practice to Paris and spent a couple of nights there earlier than returning house.
On our last day in Paris, we visited the Paris Rugby Village. There have been 3 matches that day, with the large match being Eire vs South Africa at Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Paris). The village was filled with Irish followers, as you’ll be able to see in these images.
As we wandered round Paris that afternoon, we handed a whole lot or proud Irish followers sporting their inexperienced jerseys. Paris had a celebratory vitality that day.
The operating joke that day was, “who’s left in Eire to maintain the lights on”?!
Child’s can observe their expertise at this turf discipline contained in the Paris Rugby Village.
And that’s a wrap on our recap from the Rugby World Cup in France!
Given the 7 week size of the occasion, our 10 days in France is simply a small slice of the general occasion unfold throughout the nation. It’s a enjoyable event that brings in passionate followers from around the globe. France did an excellent job internet hosting.
Are we going to 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia?
Sure! We hope so. It’s 4 years away, so loads can occur from now till then. Nonetheless, our plan is to get tickets for the subsequent world cup.
Though, we’re unsure if we are going to carry our boys for that one. They are going to be youngsters at the moment, so that they most likely gained’t need to come in any case.
Have you ever been to a Rugby World Cup?
How was your expertise? Share your ideas within the feedback under.
Learn subsequent – Our expertise attending the Rugby World Cup in Japan