As "the biggest and best" World Cup has come to a close in England, the focus is already switching to Japan's hosting of the tournament in 2019. For Irish fans, the focus is on 2023 as the IRFU bid to host the tournament for the first time.
Rugby Correspondent with The Irsh Times, Gerry Thornley spoke to Newstalk Breakfast this morning about the Irish bid and thinks "they are going to have stiff competition". South Africa remain Ireland's biggest rival to hosting the event. After the success of hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the South African Rugby Union are looking to host rugby's showpiece for the first time since 1995.
France and Italy are also considering a bid and "there might be some appeal in an Italian World Cup" according to Thornley. Italy have never hosted a World Cup game, unlike the other Six Nations countries, while France last hosted the tournament in 2007.
Thornley was speaking to Newstalk Breakfast from London. He told Ivan Yates that the city is so big, it was easily able to cope with the fans attending games. He described how on the day Ireland faced Italy in the Olympic Stadium, Arsenal hosted Manchester United in a Premier League game while over 80,000 attended an NFL game at Wembley.
The lack of big stadia in Ireland compared to England may prove to be one of Ireland's downfalls in the bid. England 2015 saw almost 2.5 million fans attend the games. Football stadia like Wembley, St James' Park and the Etihad Stadium were used which helped the attendance figure. "Ultimately, it's about making money", according to Thornley, and Ireland's small stadia may not impress World Rugby.
The decision on the 2023 World Cup will not happen until May 2017. Thornley told Newstalk Breakfast that it's an "impressive bid" with a "very good team" and he expects the bid to "come close" to winning.
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