World Rugby has confirmed South Africa, France and Ireland as top 3 finalists for the Rugby World Cup 2023 host candidates.
World Rugby back checked each application to make sure it could meet the key criteria critical to a viable bid by the September 1st deadline. The main focus points included finance, venues, tournament window and government support.
And South Africa stand a very good chance of winning it… even though our Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, imposed a ban on bidding for major sporting events.
He released a statement last April that the South African governing bodies of rugby, cricket, athletics and netball could not bid to host major tournaments. This was a punishment for a failure to meet what was described as “transformation” targets.
South Africa last hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995. It was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country.
That World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in South Africa following the end of apartheid.
It was also the first World Cup in which we were allowed to compete; the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB, now World Rugby) had only readmitted South Africa to international rugby in 1992, following negotiations to end apartheid.
World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont announce in a statement, “We are delighted by the strong level of serious interest from unions and governments, which is clearly reflected in three strong and impressive applications.
“I would like to congratulate the unions for successfully progressing to candidate status and we welcome further dialogue with all parties as momentum builds towards the selection of the Rugby World Cup 2023 host.”
The application phase was the second stage of a detailed three-phase host selection process following an initial and education phase, designed to provide prospective bid unions and governments with all the information required to determine to proceed with a bid.
The candidate process officially opens on 1 November and the Rugby World Cup 2023 host union will be selected by the World Rugby Council in November 2017.
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