Ben Smith: Wallabies’ Rugby World Cup opener against Hong Kong is a fizzer & Perth fans should feel aggrieved

It is the biggest black eye to West Australian rugby fans since Western Force were unceremoniously dumped from Super Rugby. The 2027 Rugby World Cup in Perth will open with a whimper rather than a bang after organisers snubbed the idea of the Wallabies kicking off proceedings against their greatest foes and bitter rivals New Zealand. Instead, Australia’s opening match of the tournament will not be a blockbuster at all — it will come against the third-lowest ranked team at the event. Perth rugby fans were sold the dream when it was announced Optus Stadium would host the opening game — immediately, thoughts of a marquee match-up pitting Australia against the likes of South Africa, England or even Ireland began to circulate. And when the draw bequeathed a potential Bledisloe Cup-esque match-up, Perth fans could hardly contain their excitement and given the 2023 tournament opened with France taking on New Zealand at the Stade de France in a potential preview of the final, it was not fanciful thinking. For WA punters, this was a once-in-a-generation and potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Wallabies play a genuine world power in their home city, with a vast local Kiwi population in town and a proven track record of filling Optus Stadium to the brim for Bledisloe Cup games. Instead, minnows Hong Kong will take to the field against Australia and even through the Wallabies’ awful end to 2025, they will still be 50-point favourites. Scheduling this game as the opener is like a putting a prop on the wing for a cross-field kick; there is a high chance of a disastrous mismatch. Rugby took a battering in WA when the Force were axed from Super Rugby in 2017. It set the sport and the club, who managed to survive against all odds to rise again, back years. This will not have the same, almost-cataclysmic effect, but it will leave dyed-in-the-wool union supporters and general sports fans once more angered and feeling they have been fobbed off in favour of the Eastern States again. This time last year, World Rugby chair Brett Robinson was asked in an interview with this masthead the likelihood of Perth fans being treated to a blockbuster opener. “Ordinarily it’s the pick of the matches of the first round and the pool games,” Robinson said at the time. With the full respect to World Cup debutants Hong Kong, they are not the pick of the bunch and local fans have every right to feel aggrieved. Twice last year, Hong Kong were soundly beaten by Japan XV — a second string side who themselves were thrashed 71-7 by Australia A in October in a game featuring the Wallabies’ reserves. This has a strong chance of being memorable for all the wrong reasons and if the opener is meant to arouse excitement within punters, this match-up raises eyebrows out of surprise rather than interest. There is a genuine argument it makes sense to stage Australia and New Zealand at the biggest stadium in the tournament (Sydney’s Accor Stadium). But it is still a bitter blow for Perth fans to take, particularly six months after Perth missed out on a British and Irish Lions Test against the Wallabies. Since the start of 2016, Perth has hosted seven Wallabies Tests and even though the quality of opponent has been strong when the Wallabies have headed west, it is still less appearances less than Melbourne (eight), Brisbane (14) and Sydney (17) in the same timeframe. There is a sense Perth gets compensatory matches to make up for the blockbusters it misses out on. To give the organisers some credit, the rest of the Perth slate is not half-bad: Ireland vs Scotland is a genuinely interesting clash between two teams with large followings who will create an incredible atmosphere at Optus Stadium. And the prospect of England heading to Perth in the round of 16 to possibly face Italy is enticing, as is the Springboks also playing at Optus Stadium in the same round. But whereas the opener would have certainly sold out, you can guarantee some Perth fans are already having second thoughts about shilling out for it now — particularly when the cheapest, category six tickets are $65 for adults.