There were sad scenes in Pretoria, South Africa when fans were left with disappointment that the country will not host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
South Africa lost out to France on the rights to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. France beat off competition from Ireland and South Africa after a unanimous vote by the World Rugby council.
France received 24 votes to South Africa’s 15 in the final round of voting. In the first round, France received 18 votes to South Africa’s 13 and Ireland’s eight.
South Africans were confident on getting the rights after they were recommended as the preferred choice of the sport’s governing body and many have slammed the council’s decision to ignore the recommendation with Jurie Roux SA Rugby CEO stating, [perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“World Rugby ran exhaustive, transparent process for 15 months to identify best host nation, only for the process to go entirely opaque for past two weeks. The view of the experts and World Rugby’s leadership was overturned by World Rugby Council members.”[/perfectpullquote]
World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont, however, maintained that “the voting process was transparent.”
Mark Alexander, president of SA Rugby said, “We are bitterly disappointed at this decision and would like to apologize to the people and government of South Africa for raising their hopes. We did everything in our power to bring the tournament to South Africa and we expected to have that right confirmed today.”
“We produced a compelling bid document that earned the unanimous recommendation of the Rugby World Cup Ltd board. That recommendation was questioned last week by rivals, but endorsed a second time by World Rugby last week.” He added,
“However, the view of the experts and World Rugby’s leadership was overturned by World Rugby Council members, who may have had other factors to consider.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“We cannot hide our desolation but, for the sake of rugby we wish the 2023 tournament hosts every success.”[/perfectpullquote]
South Africa last hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995, the same year they won the title.
Featured Photo: South Africa Rugby
