By RFU Press Office
February 4 2013

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) today confirmed that ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup England will play three test matches beginning on August 15, including two QBE Internationals at Twickenham Stadium.

2015 QBE Internationals opponents confirmed

The warm up matches will see England take on France and Ireland at home, and then travel away to play France. England's two home games will be shown live on Sky Sports.

England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “These Test matches will be vital in our preparations for the World Cup. To have two QBE Internationals at Twickenham Stadium, in front of our passionate fans, will be something to look forward to and we are grateful to the French and Irish unions for helping us arrange these fixtures so soon after the draw.”

It will be QBE, the business insurance specialist’s fourth year as title sponsor of the series. QBE is working closely with the RFU to support the development of rugby, which includes the recently launched QBE Coaching Club. This partnership between QBE and the RFU  aims to recruit and train 2,015 new level two rugby coaches by 2015.

Richard Pryce, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of QBE European Operations, said: “We continue to be a proud partner of England Rugby, both through our sponsorship of the QBE Internationals and initiatives such as the QBE Coaching Club. We are delighted that the RFU has received such an overwhelming response to this new programme, with the 300 coaching places available in 2013 heavily oversubscribed. The Coaching Club reaffirms QBE’s commitment to support rugby at all levels and we look forward to seeing the results.”

Fixtures for the 2015 RWC warm up matches:

• August 15 – England v France QBE International
• August 22 – France v England
• September 5– England v Ireland QBE International

Ticket prices and availability for the 2015 QBE Internationals will be announced in due course with details appearing on www.rfu.com