South Africa defeated New Zealand, 43-28, on Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium in front of 68,173 people, “the largest crowd ever assembled for a single rugby match in North America.” Springboks’ fans green jerseys “surrounded the team hotel” and supporters “gathered around the bus.” South African flags were “draped across shoulders throughout the concourses.” Green-and-gold jerseys “overwhelmed the pockets of black in the stands.” Fans traveled “across states, countries and oceans for a matchup that had never before been staged in Baltimore.” Saturday “felt like both a finale and an audition.” Five years from now, the U.S. will host the men’s Rugby World Cup for the first time. Baltimore “hopes to be part of it, and a record crowd at M&T Bank Stadium offered perhaps the strongest evidence yet that the city could support rugby on its largest stage” (BALTIMORE SUN, 9/12).
THE ATHLETIC wrote under the header, “What happened when rugby’s greatest nations landed in Baltimore? Lots of World Cup learnings.” World Rugby kept an eye on how the FIFA World Cup went in the U.S. this summer with the country set to host the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and women’s edition in 2033. World Rugby invested around $1.5M to put on the Springboks-All Blacks game at M&T Bank Stadium. There was a halftime show, and fireworks “greeted the arrival of the teams onto the field.” Sadly, the ref’s communications system “went down again” — in a repeat of last year’s New Zealand-Ireland match at Soldier Field, when the referee’s mic malfunctioned — “leading to a stoppage of more than 10 minutes in the first half, and the delay was not adequately explained to those in the stands.” A “non-negotiable for venues” for the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups “will be rugby’s insistence on grass pitches.” There will also “be sharing of ticketing data between World Rugby and NFL teams” (THE ATHLETIC, 9/13).