Spreadbury starts 2011 World Cup
Tony Spreadbury of England will referee the first match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and he will do so in the Cayman Islands.
The 2007 Rugby World Cup started in the tiny country of Andorra and the referee was André Watson who had been at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and had recently retired. But he was appointed to the first preliminary match for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. It was between Andorra and Norway in Andorra.
Spreadbury referees at the 2007 Rugby World Cup and has recently retired from international rugby. He has been appointed to referee the first preliminary match for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The match is between the Cayman Islands and Trinidad & Tobago in the Cayman Islands.
Watson refereed the Final match of the final tournament of the 2003 World Cup. Spreadbury refereed the first match of the final tournament of the 2007 World Cup.
Think Cayman Islands, think banks; think Trinidad & Tobago, think calypso. Think the two and you think the start of the great tournament that billions of people will watch.
For the first time ever Rugby World Cup Qualification will begin in the Caribbean. For the first time the International Rugby Board will use a tournament as the start of its World Cup preliminaries.
The knock-out tournament will be played over six days, from 20-26 April.
The winner will then go into the South America Division B Championship with Colombia or Venezuela, Paraguay, Brazil and Peru.
The preliminary rounds are scheduled to be completed in 2010, a year before the tournament in New Zealand.
The Caribbean Championship in the Cayman Islands is the start of a new-look Rugby World Cup qualifier process which will incorporate established Tournaments in the IRB’s six regions - North America & West Indies, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Europe and the Americas have been allocated two qualifying places, Africa, Asia and Oceania one place each, with the last place determined by a play-off.
Caribbean Championship fixtures
20 April 2008
Cayman Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago
Guyana vs Jamaica
Bahamas vs Bermuda
Barbados vs Mexico
23 April 2008
Semi-finals
26 April 2008
Final