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Putin giving Rugby World Cup appearance 'full consideration'
By Online Editors
Russian President Vladimir Putin is giving his 'full consideration' to attending the Rugby World Cup opening game in Japan.
Hosts Japan are taking on Russia in Osaka in the inaugural game of the tournament, and former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has formally invited President Putin to attend.
According to The Japan Times, Putin is giving it his 'full consideration'.
Russia qualified for the tournament after Romania, Belgium and Spain were docked points after a controversy surrounding last year's European Nations Cup - which acted as a Rugby World Cup qualifying tournament. Belgium, Spain and Romania fielded ineligible players and determined that each team be deducted five championship point.
A record 400,000 international visitors are anticipated to arrive in Japan between September and November.
Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan is the ninth edition of rugby's showcase global event and the first in Asia. The world's top 20 national teams will play in 48 matches hosted across 12 match cities for the right to lift the iconic Webb Ellis Cup and be crowned world champions.
Rugby World Cup is the sport's financial engine, generating approximately 90 percent of World Rugby's revenues for reinvestment in the global game over the four-year cycle.
The record-breaking success of England 2015 is enabling World Rugby to invest £245.8 million in the sport by 2020, eclipsing the previous 2013-16 £201 million investment injection by 22 percent.
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Latest Comments
How do you feel about Schmidts progress now?
When you say turners then around - they were horrendous and got absolutely pumped by wales at the World Cup and by Argentina recently
So it’s not hard to improve from that
And now they play a decent side (albeit still not top four) and get pumped 4 tries to 1
The ABs have their own issues but I’ll take our 6 class props and other areas of improvement every day
Go to commentsUmaga-Jensen at 26 has the attributes of a 2nd-5 and has moved past injuries that hampered his earlier elevation to AB status. I agree with TI that we persist with playing people out of position and ignore the best positional players from selection.
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