Rugby World Cup Bidding To Be Overhauled
Brett Gosper, chief executive of World Rugby, has announced that the body is set to review its bidding process following controversy surrounding France’s victory in securing the 2023 World Cup.
The final decision went against a unanimous recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limited Board for South Africa to host the tournament, over rival proposals from France and Ireland.
A vote took place on 15th November by the World Rugby Council comprised of 39 votes requiring a majority to name South Africa as hosts. In the first round, France gained 18 votes, South Africa 13 and Ireland eight. A second round voting gave 24 votes to France and South Africa 15.
Gosper revealed that World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont and his deputy Agustin Pichot had “not been happy” to inherit the policy of the Board recommending a nomination when they were elected in 2016 and had already looked at changing it.
Gosper said: “There are parts of the process that we will probably change next. I guess the hardest part of the review and the most contentious part of the review was actually providing a recommendation. To be fair on Bill and Gus, when they arrived on the scene, they found that and they weren’t happy with that. But because we had embarked on a system, there were certain elements countries were really keen that we were not to change one element of.
“In the end we felt that was probably the right route to take. To change course halfway through the process was going to be uncomfortable for all sorts of reasons.”
Gosper also said that the system in place for the 2023 Rugby World Cup has resulted in “three extraordinary candidates and some real certainty financially”, however, he did also add that the Council’s decision to reject the Board’s recommendation had undermined it.
Image: ©Getty Images
