Nashville turns into a rugby town this weekend. GEODIS Park will host a doubleheader on Saturday, October 24, pairing the USA Women's Eagles against Italy and the USA Men's Eagles against Australia XV, with a single ticket covering both matches.
The women's match kicks off at 3:15 p.m. CT, followed by the men's contest at 6 p.m. CT, according to GEODIS Park. Gates open at 2:15 p.m., and the venue has flagged early road closures around the stadium, including a shutdown of Benton Avenue between Bransford Avenue and Coliseum Way beginning six hours before the event, at 9:15 a.m. The doubleheader is part of a three-weekend international series that USA Rugby is also running in Dallas and New Jersey this October, per USA Rugby's Eagles site.
The women's game slots into World Rugby's WXV Global Series, with the Eagles entering unbeaten in that competition and chasing a fifth straight overall win, as reported by Goff Rugby Report. That same report notes the Eagles beat Italy 36-27 in their last test, in Texas, setting up a rematch in Nashville. The women last faced Italy at the 2023 WXV 2 tournament in Cape Town, South Africa, according to a Visit Music City release, while the U.S. men last met Australia's Wallabies all the way back in 2015, in a Rugby World Cup warm-up at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Co-Captains Lead a Veteran Women's Squad
Erica Jarrell-Searcy and Georgie Perris-Redding will co-captain the USA Women's Eagles for the WXV Global Series, the Eagles' roster announcement confirms. As WBIR reports, Perris-Redding said the team feels it has a responsibility to grow rugby in the United States. Jarrell-Searcy, who was born in Massachusetts, discovered the sport at age 18 and now lives in Manchester, England, to play for the Eagles, according to the same WBIR account. On the men's side, captain Jason Damm told the station that Nashville has great energy and offers a great venue to expose people to rugby.
GEODIS Park's Growing Rugby Resume
Saturday's doubleheader will be the second rugby event at the Nashville stadium, which opened May 1, 2022, with a stated capacity of 30,109, per Visit Music City. The venue previously hosted a Major League Rugby game between the Chicago Hounds and the New England Free Jacks on April 19, as noted in a report from Yahoo Sports, which also describes rugby as one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, particularly at the college level. Tickets for the Nashville doubleheader went on sale through Ticketmaster earlier this year, with presale opening June 30 and general sales beginning July 2, Visit Music City reported.
A Stop on the Road to 2031 and 2033
Organizers frame the event as part of rugby's broader push in the United States ahead of the men's 2031 and women's 2033 Rugby World Cups, according to GEODIS Park. USA Rugby CEO Bill Goren told WBIR the organization had wanted to bring both teams to Nashville for a long time, and Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. President and CEO Deana Ivey said the doubleheader reflects growing interest in sports in the city and could give Nashville international exposure, per the same WBIR report.
Nashville is among 27 U.S. cities and areas that entered the applicant phase for hosting potential 2031 Men's Rugby World Cup matches, according to World Rugby. Those 27 applicants represent 33 venues total and have submitted signed Letters of Intent, World Rugby says, with a reduced group expected to advance to the Candidate Phase by the end of 2026 and a final host selection to follow the 2027 tournament. No city, including Nashville, has been chosen yet. World Rugby has pointed to the economic scale such tournaments can bring, citing figures from the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France that, per FloRugby, generated 5,200 jobs, €871 million in net economic input and €1.8 billion in total spending.
