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Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to stage its first international rugby match

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is to host its first-ever international rugby union match when it hosts the Barbarians this November.

The invitational club will take on an All Blacks XV for the Killik Cup at the 62,000-seat venue, which is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and has staged National Football League (NFL) games, major boxing bouts and rugby league’s Challenge Cup Final 2022 since opening in 2019.

John Spencer, president of Barbarian FC, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to announce we will face the All Blacks XV this autumn in The Killik Cup. It is a fixture with a great sense of history – not just as the setting of that incredible try in 1973, but also on ten other sparkling occasions producing champagne rugby between two teams of global stars.

“Playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will also give our spectators a truly exceptional experience. While this state-of-the-art stadium has hosted club rugby matches including the Premiership’s Saracens against Bristol Bears in the past, this is the first time it will play host to an international rugby fixture.”

Spencer added: “The Barbarians are no strangers to playing historic matches at newly opened stadiums. In 2008 we faced Australia at the new Wembley Stadium and in the build-up to Rugby World Cup 2015 we played Samoa at the Olympic Stadium – now the London Stadium – in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.”

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is set to host its first concerts in July, with rock band Guns N Roses and singer Lady Gaga both due to play. The Guns N Roses concerts were first scheduled for 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic.

Image: Omri Yamin on Unsplash