Chronicle EditorLONDON. – The 2023 Rugby World Cup is set to be held in South Africa after the Board of the sport’s governing body recommended their bid ahead of Ireland and France yesterday but both losing nations vowed to fight on. World Rugby’s Council could still opt for any of the three bids when it votes on Nov. 15 but is expected to rubber-stamp the recommendation and some unions, including New Zealand, have indicated that they will follow the Board’s choice.
Japan will host the next tournament in 2019, the first in Asia. Ireland’s joint Republic and Northern Irish bid had been the bookmakers’ favourites having never been the main host before while France were the outsiders having staged the tournament in 2007. Both, however, were outscored in the evaluation report where South Africa received an overall score of 78.97 percent to 75.88 for France and 72.25 for Ireland on a selection of weighted criteria. South Africa hosted the 1995 World Cup against an extraordinary emotional, social and political backdrop after the country had missed the first two tournaments due to the sporting ban over apartheid. – Reuters.
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