World Cup quarter-final moved from Bolton to Warrington

Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium will now host a World Cup quarter-final, after Bolton were forced to pull out.

World Cup organisers confirmed that a clash of events had caused the University of Bolton Stadium to withdraw from hosting.

They will still host the group game between England and France on October 22.

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Jon Dutton, RLWC2021 chief executive, said: “We are clearly disappointed to be losing the University of Bolton Stadium from the Quarter-Final line-up and I appreciate it is especially frustrating for any supporters who have already bought tickets for this fixture.

“Following the postponement of the tournament, we worked with all existing hosts to discuss the viability of restaging games in 2022, and while the venue initially committed to delivering two fixtures as originally planned, they have since made us aware of a clash for the second game.

“While every effort has been made to maintain the fixture at the original location, a solution was not able to be found.

“However, we are pleased that the match will now be staged at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and we are very excited to be taking one of the biggest matches of the competition to a first class rugby league venue. We thank everyone involved for their support in achieving this solution so quickly.

“We are also very mindful of wanting to make sure that existing ticket holders are not adversely impacted by this switch and will be contacting everyone shortly to see how we can make sure that we can minimise disruption as much as possible.”

Four games at Warrington

The men’s quarter-final is due to take place on Sunday November 6 between the runner-up of Group A and winner of Group D.

Group A is England’s group, which is also features Samoa, France and Greece.

The favourites for Group D are Tonga, who are in alongside Papua New Guinea, Wales and Cook Islands.

Warrington is already due to host the group games between New Zealand and Lebanon on October 16, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands on October 25, and Samoa and France on October 30.

Supporters who have purchased tickets for the changed game will have the option to either transfer their ticket or be refunded.

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