Rugby legend is confident of a good home showing

Jason Leonard: “This is going to be the best World Cup ever!”

Emdad Rahman meets a World Cup winner.

Rugby Football Union (RFU) President Jason Leonard OBE was at West Ham United Football Club to welcome rugby’s most prestigious prize, the Webb Ellis Cup, to the borough as part of the Rugby World Cup 2014 Trophy tour.

The tournament will take place from Friday, 18th September to Saturday, 31st October. Involving 20 teams, the 48 matches will take place in 13 venues across ten cities in England and Cardiff in Wales. With 2.3 million tickets available, 460,000 visitors expected and a global TV reach of 4 billion, it is predicted to be the biggest Rugby World Cup ever.

The Webb Ellis Cup is currently in London as it travels across the UK and Ireland for the 100-day Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour. The Trophy Tour reached London following a 12 month journey around the world as part of a celebration of rugby and markws the countdown to the opening ceremony of the 2015 Rugby World Cup at Twickenham Stadium on 18th September.

The Webb Ellis Cup will spend 13 days in London, taking in iconic sites and engaging with grassroots rugby programmes, local clubs and fans. VIP guests will also join the Trophy Tour as it visits a number of locations around the region including host venues – The Stadium at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stadium – as well as Downing Street, City Hall, the Tower of London and London rugby clubs.

Rugby has been at the heart of the Trophy Tour, which will have engaged with over 100 rugby clubs, organisations and rugby festivals, from grassroots to elite levels. In addition host cities, match venues, team bases, community and legacy programmes, sports events, stakeholder visits, worldwide partner activations and iconic landmarks will feature as part of the Trophy Tour, with over 300 events programmed across the 100- day continuous tour.

This follows the international part of the Trophy Tour which began in Japan in May 2014 and took in 15 countries, celebrating rugby across the world in the lead up to Rugby World Cup 2015. As part of the tour the Webb Ellis Cup visited Japan, Australia, Fiji, Madagascar, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, USA, UAE, Hong Kong & China, Italy, Romania, Canada, Germany and France before returning to the UK in June 2015 to mark 100 days to go until the Tournament.

Local school pupils joined Jason Leonard, English rugby’s most capped player, at the Boleyn Ground as he took a tour of the West Ham United Football Club Inspire Learning Centre. Leonard, who is the current RFU President, said: “The Webb Ellis Cup is Rugby’s greatest prize and since June has been on an exciting journey around Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in time for the opening ceremony at Twickenham Stadium. I feel we have engaged tremendously well with fans and the country is getting into the World Cup spirit. We hope that the 2015 story will leave us with amazing and unforgettable memories.”

England kick off against against Fiji on 18th September at Twickenham. Leonard, capped 114 times for his country, is satisfied with the way things are looking. He is certain that the depth of patriotic support will be very important. “The team looks good and we have strength in depth and this places us in a healthy position,” he said. “England can match the best and with a loud and patriotic home crowd urging the team on I think we will be hard to topple in this World Cup.”

Leonard is keen to see rugby continue to be promoted at grass roots levels and within inner city communities. “Rugby players have a public school background and it’s important to cast the net wide and provide equal opportunities for everyone. There is a lot of untapped and hidden talent and we need to work hardtop unearth those hidden gems.

“As a spectacle, this is going to be the best World Cup ever. England are in a tough group and if we can come out on top then I can see a semi-final date on the horizon and perhaps a final. Again, the obvious advantage will be with the magical crowds roaring the team on. We look forward to the nation getting behind England.”

Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is the financial engine behind unprecedented investment and growth in rugby worldwide. The net Rugby World Cup surplus from the commercial success of France 2007 and New Zealand 2011 has enabled World Rugby to invest more than £150 million in the Game between 2009 and 2012. They anticipate a further injection of more than £180 million will be made between 2013 and 2016. This will underwrite a large range of major funding initiatives including annual national Union grants and strategic investments focusing on growing participation and increasing competition across all 121 national Member Unions affiliated to World Rugby.

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