Rúaidhrí O'Connor joined Off the Ball to reflect on the news that South Africa are the preferred host for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
World Rugby's Technical Review Group ranked Ireland third of three, behind South Africa and France when it released its report on Tuesday.
"This is a new process that has been introduced by World Rugby to insure transparency around the World Cup bid to avoid situations where deals are done in the dark of night in the hotel bar before the vote is taken and to avoid any FIFA-like situation and things liken that," O'Connor told Joe Molloy.
"And, it's a big test of its viability and strength because the whole thing in place that this Independent Review Group thoroughly goes through every element of the three bids line-by-line on a very cold and clinical basis and comes out with the best one.
"At this stage the IRFU are hoping that they are able to turn some heads and basically prize the whole thing away from South Africa based on the emotive pitch of their bid which didn't kind of come across when the brass tax were considered by the review group," he added.
The Irish bid fell down significantly against the rival South African bid when it came to venues and host cities. "We don't have them," he said, adding: "They're kind of 'to be continued' or 'to be finished off' you know.
"I think anyone who has been talking about this knows that the Irish bid was relying on a little bit of imagination compared to a country that was able to host the FIFA World Cup in 2010 or a European Championships in 2016 - just last year.
"The Irish bid was more Croke Park, Aviva Stadium and a smattering of GAA grounds, some of which need complete overhaul, some of which are yet to be built.
"So, I guess when you put that down on paper alongside the other two bids - and you're scoring them out of whatever you're scoring them - it's going to pale in comparison."
The full interview can be heard here:
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