00:00Amazing kick-off to the tournament.
00:02We have, again, Hong Kong, China in their first ever Rugby World Cup.
00:07You know, a part of the decision by the World Rugby Council in 2023,
00:11just after we had the wonderful tournament in Paris,
00:13was the role that we play in building and extending the reach of our game
00:17and to providing opportunity for the nations,
00:19for all nations around the world to participate.
00:22It's part of a longer-term plan for World Rugby this year.
00:25The Nations Championship, the Nations Cup's been launched,
00:27where all 24 teams from Rugby World Cup 27
00:30are going to be playing this year in advance,
00:32again, to lift the standard and opportunity of the game.
00:35So I guess the opportunity is to have, you know, these guys,
00:38I don't know if you saw the pool draw,
00:40but there were a bunch of guys sitting up in Hong Kong, China,
00:43that the moment they were seeing themselves pulled out to play Australia
00:46and New Zealand, their pool lifted, holy hell, what's coming our way?
00:49So I think, for me, the pools are this great opportunity
00:53where we clearly are going to have teams that are dominating,
00:56but we also have teams that are aspiring,
00:59and that's our role as well, rugby,
01:01is to build and grow a great global game.
01:03We'll see you next time.
01:07You're welcome.
01:08You're welcome.
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