‘Tournament like no other’ on the scrapheap as money talks

AFTER six years of preparation, lobbying, cajoling and an investment of around €3.25m, Ireland’s paltry return of eight votes out of a possible 39 was a major slap in the face.

When it came down to it, World Rugby’s Council followed the money and Ireland’s promise of a tournament like no other just couldn’t command any attention.

There was blood on the floor of the boardroom as delegates cast their votes in favour of France in the face of World Rugby’s own recommendation, but for all that the IRFU’s letters had cast doubt on the process, it was French rugby president Bernard Laporte and friends who benefited most.

So, Ireland’s bid team will lick its wounds and will consider whether it was worth all that effort.

The IRFU’s sense was that the parameters changed in the middle of the process, the goalposts moved when the technical evaluation was released to the public and the Irish bid found itself the bottom of the three candidate nations. It was a position it never recovered from.

Despite public utterances from its senior figures, the message from World Rugby is clear: if you want to host rugby’s showpiece event you must have the capacity to put on a major football tournament. If not, then you need not apply.

So, the likes of New Zealand, Wales and Scotland might well give up on the idea of taking on the challenge. Ironically, none of them voted for the small nation in the fight.

New Zealand’s decision to back South Africa was an obvious course of action given their close allegiance as part of SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby). But the decision of Ireland’s Celtic cousins and Guinness PRO14 partners to turn their back on us left the IRFU wondering who its friends are.

Scotland had always promised to follow the money, openly saying it would endorse whichever bid would earn the most for the Rugby World Cup.

Wales, meanwhile, was duty bound to vote for South Africa because its chairman and council member Gareth Davies is also a director of Rugby World Cup Ltd and was involved in the evaluation report.

Italy is thought to have sided with France, despite years of the IRFU going to bat for the Italians when they wanted to join the Six Nations and the Guinness PRO14 league.

Ireland’s sole Six Nations backer was England’s RFU, while the rest of our votes are thought to have come from North America. The USA and Canada had one vote each, while the North American federation had two votes and they all went to Ireland.

It is thought that Ireland’s final vote may have come from the European federation, which split its two between France and Ireland.

The French, meanwhile, drew support from a global coalition that included Japan and a collection of regional federations including, strangely, the African federation.

South Africa may have had the support of the governing body, but it didn’t have the votes beyond its southern-hemisphere allies.

By the time the decision was ultimately reached, Ireland was already out of the running.

“There’s no politics like sporting politics,” IRFU chief executive Philip Browne surmised glumly yesterday.

Yesterday’s about-turn was proof of that.