Member Article

North East businesses given approval for Rugby World Cup 2015

Training facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead have been chosen as team bases for the Rugby World Cup in 2015

The organisers England 2015 carried out a nationwide search for the very best training facilities, sports clubs, hotels and universities, to provide 20 teams with a place to stay and train during next year’s tournament.

Now forty one venues have been given the Rugby World Cup seal of approval and officially designated as Team Bases.

Newcastle will host the Tongan national team at Northumbria University, while Scotland will use the facilities at Royal Grammar School Newcastle.

Gateshead International Stadium and Gateshead College’s Academy for Sport meanwhile, will be a base for South Africa and Samoa. The defending champions, New Zealand, will be based at Darlington and train at Mowden Park.

Newcastle City Council’s Cabinet Member for Investment and Development, Councillor Ged Bell, said: “World-class athletes require world-class facilities, so it gives me great pleasure to see some of our top venues being selected for next year’s Rugby World Cup.

“The tournament is yet another opportunity for Newcastle and Gateshead to show the world what we are all about, following our successful role in the 2012 Olympics, and I am sure that each and every one of our venues will do the region proud.”

England Rugby 2015 CEO, Debbie Jevans, said: “As the organising committee for Rugby World Cup 2015 we are committed to ensuring that all participating teams have the optimum training environments available to them throughout the Tournament and in this regard we are delighted to announce our 41 official Team Bases for the event.

“Rugby, rightly, is at the heart of all our planning and we have worked closely with the teams to ensure that they have access to facilities and a Team Base that meet their individual needs.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .