Auckland, NZL—The Rugby World Cup 2021 schedule has been announced with the USA Women set to play the opening match against Europe I on Friday, Sept 17.

Kickoff for that game will be at 7:45pm Eastern Time and will be held at the Northland Events Center in Whangarei New Zealand.

Europe 1?

Who Europe 1 will be is still up in the air. The spot will be decided after a four-team playoff among the three Six Nations teams not already qualified, plus the winner of the Rugby Europe Championship. For that's Ireland, Scotland, and Italy, plus one more. The Rugby Europe championship has been on hold after the opening game, which was Russia over Netherlands. The key game will be Russia vs Spain. Assuming Spain beats the Netherlands, then that game will decide who moves on.

Regardless, these days Ireland has been in pretty solid form and is the favorite to become Europe 1.

More On RWC 2021

Rugby World Cup 2021 aims to break the record for attendance at a women’s Rugby World Cup tournament, which is expected to be boosted by some exciting matchups. Hosts and reigning champions New Zealand will take on Australia at Eden Park on the opening day on September 18. Canada will open on the same day against Asia 1, which could be Japan or Hong Kong or Kazakhstan. 

For the USA, pool play continues on Sept 22 (7:45pm ET) and Monday, Sept 27 (9:15pm ET) with the Eagles facing rivals Canada and then Asia I. The USA-Canada match marks the first time North America’s greatest rivals have met in the pool stages. The rivalry has been warmed during the World Cup precisely because the USA and Canada rarely meet. Often one team might finish in the top four and another finish 5th and argue the 5th-place team was actually the better squad.

This time, bragging rights could be settled early. Local bragging rights are a feature of this year's event, with New Zealand facing Australia, and England facing France.

“With less than eight months to go until Rugby World Cup 2021 kicks off in New Zealand, anticipation and excitement is really starting to build for fans and players worldwide," enthused World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont. "There is a very real, unstoppable momentum building behind the rise of women in rugby now and 2021 will be a year like no other, providing a unique opportunity to continue to accelerate the growth and profile of the sport, as women’s rugby rightly is set to own center stage this year.”

Knockout Stages

After pool play the top eight will move on to the quarterfinals. There are three pools of four, so the top eight will be the top two from each pool plus the two best 3rd-place teams.

Pool A: New Zealand, Australia, Wales, Final Qualifier
Pool B: Canada, USA, Europe 1, Asia 1
Pool C: England, France, South Africa, Fiji

The quarterfinal games then will take place on October 2, the semifinals will be on October 8, and the final day of games (as all teams get placement games) on October 15.

USA Head Coach Rob Cain is pretty happy to get things going early on Day One.

"What a wonderful opportunity for us to open the Rugby World Cup," said Cain. "The importance and significance of this won't be lost on us as a group. This is an exciting occasion to put down our marker on the tournament; and with all eyes on the game itself, we can make some new fans along the way.”