France to host 2023 Rugby World Cup, stunning South Africa
Ireland also beaten in a secret vote as French Rugby Union president Bernard Laporte joins in celebrations while South African officials are left bitterly disappointed
France will host the Rugby World Cup in 2023, a year before the Olympic Games in Paris, after surprisingly beating South Africa and Ireland in a vote on Wednesday.
The World Rugby Council disregarded the recommendation of an evaluation report to hand the tenth edition of its showpiece tournament to South Africa.
A secret vote by member nations instead saw France, which hosted the 2007 World Cup, beat South Africa 24-15 in a second round.
“Just because it went to France doesn’t mean there’s [any] humiliation whatsoever,” said World Rugby president Bill Beaumont, who recommended a South African victory. “If you look there wasn’t a great deal between France and South Africa in the evaluation report. It was very close.”
It means France will host four prestigious sporting events within six years, with golf’s Ryder Cup in Paris next year and soccer’s Women’s World Cup across France in 2019.
The French sports ministry said the decision to award it the Rugby World Cup so close to the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris in 2024 “demonstrates the excellence of the French know-how in organising major sporting events.”