World Rugby open to increasing squad size for 2023 World Cup

World Rugby is considering an option of increasing the squad side for the 2023 World Cup in France.

The decision follows after leading coaches of various teams slammed the current limit of 31 players which they feel is not sufficient considering the importance of the tournament and player welfare in mind.

A number of teams have already reported injury casualties even before the showpiece event kicked-off with few of them even expected to be ruled out of the tournament.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt and New Zealand's Steve Hansen have already expressed their concern on the constraint in the squad limit but World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper criticised the timing of their opinion.

With the tournament set to get underway in less than a week, Gosper said any decision on increasing the squad side will be considered from the next edition in 2023.

"We are never entrenched in one particular position. That position has come pretty late in the day.

“We believe that there’s good player welfare parameters experienced around the size of the squads.

“Coaches generally want more players at their disposal and we understand that. Looking forward we might look at that.

"Moving forward we might look at that (increasing the squad sizes). It does have cost implications.”