A sold-out HBF Park, hours before kick-off, setting a stadium record for a Test match at the venue – that's the reception Perth gave the Wallabies as they hosted Italy in round three of the inaugural Nations Championship. It wasn't just a successful event. It's a clear signal of the growing commercial strength of rugby in Western Australia.
The Wallabies delivered on the occasion, running out 57-10 winners – their first victory over Italy since 2018 – in what doubled as a send-off for outgoing coaches Joe Schmidt and Laurie Fisher ahead of Les Kiss taking the reins. It capped a hat-trick of sold-out Nations Championship Tests to start the year, a genuine signal of the code's growing pull on Australian sporting audiences – part of a broader reshaping of the international calendar in 2026, which has also seen the launch of the new World Rugby Nations Cup alongside the Nations Championship, both designed to build toward an expanded Men's Rugby World Cup 2027.
But the story of the day wasn't just the Test. It was the double-header. Before the Wallabies took the field, the Western Force hosted their first-ever home semi-final in Super Rugby Women's, taking on the NSW Waratahs at HBF Park rather than the originally planned Wanneroo Rugby Club – a decision made specifically to give the occasion the stage it deserved. For a Force side that had already beaten the six-time champion Waratahs during the regular season, it was a fitting stage for a landmark moment in the growth of the women's game in WA.
Put those two results together – a sold-out elite men's Test and a first-ever home final for the women's program, on the same ground, on the same afternoon – and you get a clear read on where rugby in Western Australia is heading. This isn't a code waiting for its moment. It's one game, building genuine, visible momentum across every level, right now, on home soil.
For commercial partners, days like this are the clearest possible evidence of what backing rugby in WA actually delivers: sold-out stadiums, statewide attention and a growing audience across the full breadth of the game – men's and women's, elite and grassroots alike. As Perth continues to host fixtures of this calibre in the lead-up to Rugby World Cup 2027, that momentum is only set to build.
