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Rugby World Cup venues announced

Thursday, 2 May 20133 min read

London’s Olympic Stadium will host five games at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Twickenham will host the opening match of the 20-team event on September 18 with hosts England taking on the winner of the Oceania qualifying competition.

Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, Kingsholm in Gloucester and Exeter’s Sandy Park are the only other rugby venues.

Eight football stadiums, including Wembley, St James’ Park (Newcastle), Elland Road (Leeds), the Etihad (Manchester) and Villa Park (Birmingham) will be used.

World Cup 2015 qualifiers

Pool A: Australia, Wales, England

Pool B: South Africa, Samoa, Scotland

Pool C: New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga

Pool D: France, Ireland, Italy

Each pool will be made up of five teams, so there are still eight places to be filled.

The 82,000-capacity Twickenham will host 10 games including three of England’s four pool games, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final on Saturday, October 31.

The Millennium Stadium will host two of Wales’ pool games and two quarter-finals among its eight games.

Wales open their campaign in Cardiff on Sunday, September 20 against a qualifier before taking on England at Twickenham the following Saturday.

They then play a second qualifying nation, from Oceania, and take on Australia at Twickenham on Saturday, October 10.