Teams heading to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France will be allowed bigger squads and will benefit from greater gaps between matches, the organisers announced on Monday. In order to improve player welfare, squads will be expanded from the 31 used in 2019 to 33 while all teams will have a guaranteed five-day break between pool matches which means that tournament will run one week longer than in Japan. The 2023 edition will kick off on September 8 and conclude with the final on October 28. The announcement came after the Rugby World Cup Board, the World Rugby executive committee, the France 2023 organising committee and international players' representatives agreed a "ground-breaking" package of player welfare principles.