Time to pull on the green jersey – final whistle has not yet blown on cup bid

IRELAND’S prospects of landing the 2023 Rugby World Cup were dealt a blow on Tuesday, but the recommendation of the technical review group was not binding. Nor was it fatal.

Both the IRFU and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were soon out of the traps vowing not to give up on this country’s chance of landing the tournament after South Africa were recommended as the preferred hosts.

There was more to their words than empty rhetoric.

On Wednesday week, the World Rugby Council will vote on where the ninth instalment of the tournament will be held: France, Ireland or South Africa. The cold, clinical report published on Tuesday will form part of their decision, but there is a sense that the delegates are more open to the human side of the bid and so Ireland need all hands on deck as they look to win hearts and minds.

The IRFU has been taking its 2023 bid on the road for two years already in the hope of securing support, but it must step up its game further.

And it requires support from politicians, business leaders and prominent Irish people to back its case in the coming weeks.

The Irish side was taken aback by some of the reports assertions, most notably around the criteria around stadiums. It will be asking delegates, ‘what sort of World Cup do you want?’ It can point to the fact that South Africa is in recession, and constantly mired in corruption scandals. Anyone who tuned into Leinster’s recent matches in Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein – two of the 2010 Fifa World Cup stadiums that will be dusted off and re-used for the Rugby World Cup – saw shiny grounds full of empty seats. With the economy the way it is, the cost of going to matches is prohibitive. While the Irish stadiums need face-lifts, the Government guarantees they will be done.

At the end of it all, there is no doubt the public will row in behind the World Cup and pack atmospheric grounds located in the heartlands of our towns and cities.

They can stress the safety of those towns and cities. According to the Global Peace Index of 2017, Ireland is the 10th safest country in the world. France is 51st, South Africa 123rd. Yet Tuesday’s report gave Ireland no credit in this regard.

Although New Zealand has declared they will back the report’s recommendation, there remain 36 votes to be won. The Irish have until November 15 to secure enough votes to carry the day.