{"id":455343,"date":"2026-02-03T08:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T08:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/455343\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T08:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T08:41:10","slug":"perth-to-kick-off-the-mens-rugby-world-cup-2027-with-opening-match-at-optus-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/455343\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth to kick off the Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027 with opening match at Optus Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Announced just this morning at Cottesloe beach, Perth will officially open the Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027!<\/p>\n<p>The Wallabies take on Hong Kong China at Optus Stadium on Friday 1 October, 2027 \u2014 and marks the first time the global tournament has ever kicked off in Western Australia.<\/p>\n<p>The opening match marks a huge moment for the city, placing Perth | Boorloo front and centre as rugby\u2019s biggest event lands in Australia for the first time since 2003. It also signals a new era for the tournament, with Rugby World Cup 2027 expanding to a 24-team format and delivering more matches across more cities than ever before.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"animate-pulse\" style=\"color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' viewBox='0 0 1536 1024'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAALCwsP\/\/\/yH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw=='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770108070_426_.jpeg\"\/>L-R Dylan Pietsch (Current Western Force and Wallabies Player), Phil Kearns (Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027 Board Member and Former Wallabies Captain), Hon. Samantha Roe MLC (Hon Samantha Rowe MLC, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Premier and Minister for Sport and Recreation)<\/p>\n<p>Perth won\u2019t just host the opener, either. <a href=\"https:\/\/perthisok.com\/news\/full-strength-beer-optus-stadium-gage-roads\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Optus Stadium<\/a> will welcome a stacked lineup of pool matches throughout October, including:<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand v Chile (October 2)<\/p>\n<p>USA v Samoa (October 9)<\/p>\n<p>Ireland v Scotland (October 10)<\/p>\n<p>South Africa v Romania (October 17)<\/p>\n<p>The opening clash will also be historic for Hong Kong China, who will make their Rugby World Cup debut after winning the Asia Rugby Men\u2019s Championship \u2014 only the second Asian nation ever to qualify for the men\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The full Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027 schedule confirms 52 matches across seven host cities (<a href=\"https:\/\/resources.worldrugby-rims.pulselive.com\/worldrugby\/document\/2026\/02\/02\/46e7bf79-88b6-4e0e-abac-86a341dcb313\/RWC-2027_Match-Schedule_Ticketing_Public.pdf\" rel=\" nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">check it out here<\/a>), with fixtures deliberately clustered around weekends to maximise crowd atmosphere and make it easier for fans to attend. Perth remains a key host city throughout the knockout stages too, as part of the tournament\u2019s first-ever round of 16.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets go on sale from February 18, with prices starting at $40 for adults and more than one million tickets available for $100 or less. Fans will need to <a href=\"https:\/\/rwc2027.rugbyworldcup.com\/\" rel=\" nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">register<\/a> in advance to access the presale window.<\/p>\n<p>With recent sell-out internationals, Bledisloe Cup matches, the HSBC SVNS series calling Perth home, <\/p>\n<p>Image Credit: Supplied\/Venueswest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Announced just this morning at Cottesloe beach, Perth will officially open the Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027! The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-455343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}