The second edition of World Rugby’s global WXV tournament will kick-off this weekend with three levels of action across Cape Town, Dubai and Vancouver. Ireland have made the step up to the top tier WXV1 in Canada.
No stranger to hosting international rugby, BC Place in Vancouver will open proceedings on Sunday, 29 September with a triple header treating fans to a jam-packed day of rugby action that kicks off with USA against England. Hosts Canada will be facing France with the support of the home crowd with WXV 1 newcomers Ireland beginning their campaign against world champions, New Zealand (September 30, 3 a.m. Irish time).
The road to WXV1 began last year in the inaugural season of the tournament.
Ireland were in WXV3 and while there were big wins against Kazakhstan (109-0) and Colombia (64-3), the final round and decider saw Ireland edge past Spain (15-13) in a much …