Irish PM takes unprecedented swipe at South Africa's RWC2023 bid

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has taken an unprecedented swipe at South Africa’s 2023 Rugby World Cup bid.

His comments come after the Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) Board this week unanimously recommended to the World Rugby Council the selection of South Africa as Rugby World Cup 2023 host.

The World Rugby Council will now meet on 15 November in London to consider the recommendation and vote on the next host.

His comments also come after the South Africa bid team suggested Ireland remove themselves from the process in order to let France and South Africa duke it out.

“What we want is a tournament where people see matches in full stadiums in the middle of rugby communities in our cities rather than in big soccer stadiums on the outskirts of our cities that would be half-empty. That’s part of the case we’ll be making to the rugby unions,” Varadkar said.

He also pointed out that Ireland’s stadia are in a better position than New Zealand’s were when they hosted the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

“But if you look at what we have already it’s a much better stadium infrastructure than New Zealand had when they hosted the Rugby World Cup back in 2011. It was always part of our bid to upgrade our stadiums over the next five years. There’s money there to do exactly that,” he said.

The Irish bid team are refusing to give up on the campaign, despite coming last in the recommendation.

On Wednesday 15 November in London, World Rugby Council will decide which candidate union will host Rugby World Cup 2023. The three candidate unions will not be able to vote during the process.

The four remaining Six Nations unions and three remaining SANZAAR unions have three votes each, while the six regional associations (Oceania Rugby, Sudamerica Rugby, Rugby Americas North, Rugby Europe, Rugby Africa and Asia Rugby) and the Japan Rugby Football Union have two votes each.

The remaining four votes belong to Georgian Rugby Union, Rugby Canada, USA Rugby and Federatia Rom?n? de Rugby. The unions/regional associations can cast their votes as they see fit, including splitting their votes or abstaining.