The decision by the World Rugby Council not to ratify the recommendation from the Rugby World Cup board is something of an embarrassing slap in the face for the game's governing body. Only one third of the council's votes supported the recommendation from the Evaluation Report, so whatever damage it did to Ireland's impact it appeared to have little impact on the French bid.
Ultimately though, the bottom line appears to be that smaller nations such as Ireland, or henceforth for that matter New Zealand, maybe Italy, and Argentina, need ever submit a bid to host a World Cup again.
"The reality is unless you have big shiny new stadia you've got to wonder why you bid," said the IRFU chief executive Philip Browne. "World Rugby need to decide what sort of a tournament they want, and make sure that everyone understands what their vision is at the outset and then we can decide whether we're going to bid again or not. Effectively you're at a disadvantage being a new host, number one, and number two you're at a disadvantage if you don't have big shiny new stadia."
Hence, Browne admitted that Ireland would most probably not bid again under the parameters used in this process. “I wouldn’t rule anything in and I wouldn’t rule anything out,” he said with regard to future bids. “But it really boils down to what are the parameters, what is the basis you are bidding?
“Unless it is clear that World Rugby wants to actually encourage new hosts and unless it’s clear that its vision for the tournament isn’t just simply about money, well then in that case we would certainly look at it again but under the current circumstances we’d have to review it. New Zealand wouldn’t get it under these parameters, no.”
Another disappointing side effect is that the Government, IRFU and GAA may now well downscale the proposed redevelopment of various grounds which were part of the Irish bid.
Regroup
“At the end of the day we just got a result here a half an hour ago,” said Browne. “We have got to go back, sit down, regroup and decide what we are going to do and I am sure the Government are going to do the same. It is just too early.”
A World Cup in Ireland would have been worth about €2 billion to the Irish economy, according to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, and Browne admitted that the six-year campaign to bring the tournament to Ireland cost “probably in the region of €3.2 million - €3.25 million. We have put in about €1.75 million. The Government in the Republic have put in about €1.25 million and the Northern Ireland Government put in about €250,000.”
The Bid Ambassador, Brian O’Driscoll, admitted: “For me the most disappointing part is eight votes. To be not even within a sniff of getting into the second round, to me, that’s the bitterest pill to swallow.
“We are still at guessing games as to who voted for us. We have been let down. There were people who said that they would and that’s disappointing because I know the body of work that has gone into this and that’s incredibly thorough.
“On the upside we couldn’t change anything, we can’t magic the stadia into completion and that’s been the crux of the issue for us when it came to this evaluation report but we are going to see a lot more written about that over the next couple of weeks.”
Painful
Reflecting on the Evaluation Report, O’Driscoll said: “They are going to have to look at that Evaluation Report and the criteria around it because you are never going to see a rugby tournament hosted outside the big four or five teams. You know countries like Argentina, maybe are a while away from it yet, Italy are going to come into it, America in time. Ireland will get a World Cup; it’s just a matter of Ireland showing again what they are capable of. Who knows, we might have out stadia more developed down the track.”
"Good luck to France, they will do a great job in 2023. They did a good job previously," said O'Driscoll, before adding wryly in reference to Ireland's painful pool exit in the 2007 World Cup in France: "We will have a better experience there in 2023 there because it can't be any worse than 2007 so you know it will definitely be an improvement on our previous World Cup experience there in Bordeaux."
