Rugby Europe has today confirmed the dates for the 2021 edition of the Men XV Rugby Europe Championship, which will mark the start of the qualification process for the Rugby World Cup 2023 in the European region.
The new season will start on March 6th/7th, 2021 with defending Champions Georgia traveling to Portugal while Russia host Romania.
The competition will continue through March with an adapted schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic and due to the postponement of the play-off Match between Belgium and Netherlands, to be played before June 13th, 2021. The winner of this game will play all their REC 2021 matches during the 2021 July and November international windows, which will mark the conclusion of REC 2021.
The detailed schedule including venues and kick-off times will be announced in due course on Rugby Europe website.
The 2021 and 2022 Rugby Europe Championships will offer two direct qualification places for Rugby World Cup 2023 to the top two ranked teams in March 2022, with the third placed team going to the final global qualification repechage tournament.
