Land Rover Sponsoring 2023 Rugby World Cup

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is on in France, and once again Land Rover is sponsoring the event, this time utilizing the Defender brand exclusively as part of the execution of the new "House of Brands" strategy.

Land Rover has a long history of supporting the Rugby World Cup, going back to the 2011 event. (Check out our history of Land Rover's rugby history here.) For the past eight years, it's also traced the transition from old to new Defender. The 2015 event featured a custom-built Defender 110 double-cab pickup, with a glass case in the back to display the Webb Ellis Cup. (Only the winners can touch the trophy, so it has to be protected.) In 2019, a prototype Defender 90 (just months off of its debut in Frankfurt) was used to carry the trophy to the winners. Now, in 2023, the feature vehicle is the full-production new Defender, and the Defender sub-brand is exclusively featured.

In France, where the event is being held, there are Defender things going on all over. The Trophy Car is an electric hybrid Defender 110, built by Special Vehicle Operations in Coventry. The rear has a trophy cabinet, which like the 2015 vehicle optimizes conditions to keep the trophy safe and visible. The vehicle has a black paint job with subtle gold Rugby World Cup branding.

A special limited edition of 23 Rugby World Cup 2023 limited edition vehicles were sold in France (to be delivered from March 2024), to handpicked customers. With Santorini Black paint, Satin Gold wheels and accents, and the Rugby World Cup logo, it's a tribute to a special moment in French sport history. There are also Defender Houses near the venues in Paris, Marseille, and Nice, where invited guests can experience Defender lifestyle while attending.

The mascots for the world cup -- the children who walk hand-in-hand with players onto the playing field -- are known as "Defenders of Tomorrow." Land Rover's also focusing a marketing campaign on a film series called "Embrace the impossible," which focuses on those who defeat age, sex, sexuality, poverty, disability, and taboo to participate in rugby. Each person was depicted as a seven-foot-tall statue, which was driven somewhere in France behind a Defender and installed to celebrate the unity of rugby.

The Rugby World Cup runs until October 8th, and though rugby isn't huge in the United States, this is as good a time as any to find it on TV or streaming and get an idea of what it's like, with some extra Defender content for extra fun!