CAPE TOWN, November 7 (ANA) – Ireland’s rugby bosses have hit back at World Rugby who last week recommended that South Africa host the 2023 World Cup.
The country’s RWC chairman Dick Spring has now sent a letter to World Rugby’s Council technical review group, urging them to take a different view of the decision, which has clearly shocked them.
In a hard-hitting statement, Spring said Ireland was “shocked” at the “narrow, operational and theoretical” approach taken by the technical review group in selecting South Africa ahead of Ireland and France.
And the Irish Rugby Football Union also questioned why Ireland did not fare better on the issue of security with Spring’s letter also pointing out that South Africa has been stripped of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Spring is particularly unhappy with the scoring system used to evaluate the three countries, saying that “skewed basis” of the scoring system rewarded Ireland’s rivals’ prior history of hosting major events.
He also raised particular concerns about the way in which the security section of the report was evaluated. The technical review group’s report recommended the South African bid, placing Ireland third behind France in second place.
That recommendation has been endorsed by the New Zealand Rugby Union who holds three of the 39 available council votes, but the IRFU and French Federation have both outlined concerns about the process in letters to the delegates who will have the final say. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Herman Gibbs
