Charles Guyard / Photo credit: AFP
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12:01 p.m., August 14, 2023
A few weeks before the launch of the Rugby World Cup, another rugby competition opens this week in Brittany. Australia, Tonga, France… 12 countries will compete in Breton stadiums to lift the cup. With one difference: the players are not professional rugby players, but soldiers.
While the Rugby World Cup will officially start in three weeks, rugby fans can already watch another rugby competition in Brittany. New Zealand, Australia, England or even Tonga and of course the XV of France… All these teams will meet for a month in Brittany for the rugby world championship. But beware, the players here do not come from the Top 14.
“We can cite in particular the aviator Yohan of the air base 120 of Cazaux or the student gendarme Maximilien. Here, the teams are only composed of professional soldiers and reservists, that is to say Army of the air, Army, national navy and also gendarmerie”, explains to the microphone of Europe 1 the Commander Jean-Col de la Chapelle, of the western defense and security zone in Rennes.
A single objective for the Blues
It is therefore the world military rugby 15 championship which will take place from August 16 to September 10, exclusively in 24 Breton cities. “Brittany could not host a World Cup match, well, we will have the 30 matches of the military championship”, laughs the Commander.
To attend one of these meetings, you will have to pay only five euros, unlike the Rugby World Cup which will begin in early September, and whose ticket prices are soaring. In total, nearly 12 countries will participate in the competition and for the Blues, their mission will be to do as well as their female counterparts, military world champions in October in New Zealand.