Rugby Rugby World Cup Rugby World Cup 2023

South Africa, Ireland and France present Rugby World Cup 2023 bids to World Rugby Council

September 25, 2017

World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont has hailed the Rugby World Cup 2023 bids as ‘exciting and impressive’ after the candidate unions presented their vision and plans to World Rugby Council in London today.

The bid teams from France, Ireland and South Africa were each given 30 minutes to present their hosting proposition to Council members before fielding questions from them.

Beaumont said: “Today represented an important and exciting milestone in the host selection process for Rugby World Cup 2023. It’s clear from the presentations that we have three exceptionally strong, impressive and exciting bids with full government support. Each, I believe, is capable of hosting a superb Rugby World Cup.

“I would like to thank our friends from the respective union bid teams for their hard work, commitment and for sharing their vision and detailed hosting plans.

“My Council colleagues and I have much to consider and we look forward to the outcome of the thorough and independent evaluation process next month before we consider and select the Rugby World Cup 2023 host union.”

A key phase in the three-stage host selection process, the presentations follow the submission of detailed bids for detailed evaluation and analysis by World Rugby and independent experts.

Within their submissions, the candidates were required to outline their vision and mission for hosting rugby’s global showcase event.

This included confirmation of guarantees from governments and other appropriately empowered entities, the hosting agreement and detailed responses to core hosting requirements in line with World Rugby’s seven hosting objectives:

  • Venues and infrastructure commensurate with a top-tier major event
  • Comprehensive and enforceable public and private sector guarantees
  • A commercially successful event with a fully funded, robust financial model
  • Operational excellence through an integrated and experienced delivery team
  • A vision that engages and inspires domestic and international audiences and contributes to the growth of rugby at all levels
  • An enabling environment of political and financial stability that respects the diversity of Rugby World Cup’s global stakeholders
  • An environment and climate suited to top-level sport in a geography that allows maximum fan mobility

All bids are currently being reviewed in detail by a specialist technical review group, evaluated against weighted criteria and will feature independent economic, financial and commercial assessment by expert advisors. The Sports Consultancy is independently assessing the group’s application of the evaluation criteria to ensure a fair and consistent approach to the decision-making process.

A recommendation will then be made by the Rugby World Cup Board on 31 October, before Council votes to select the host union for Rugby World Cup 2023 at its 15 November meeting.

Rugby Rugby World Cup Rugby World Cup 2023