Three bids to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup (RWC2023) were submitted to World Rugby by the June 2017 deadline, with France selected on 15 November 2017 ahead of Ireland and South Africa. Italy withdrew its bid in September 2016, while Argentina and the United States initially expressed interest but ultimately decided against a formal bid. RWC2023 will be France's first time as sole host, having been principal host in 2007, co-host in 1991, and subsidiary host in 1999.
Schedule
In 2010, it was reported that World Rugby might select the hosts for the 2023 and 2027 at the same time, as they did with the 2015 and 2019 tournaments. Later this idea was dropped. The bidding schedule was as follows:
The bidding process formally kicked off on 14 May 2015. World Rugby held a meeting with five potential Rugby World Cup 2023 hosts on 6 May 2015 in London that was attended by representatives from Ireland, Italy, South Africa, France and the United States. Apart from the U.S., the countries attending had all previously publicly announced their interest to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
On 3 July 2015 World Rugby confirmed interest from the following four nations by the deadline of 15 June 2015: France Ireland Italy (withdrew bid on 28 September 2016) South Africa
Confirmed bidders
South Africa
South Africa was considered one of the frontrunners to host the 2023 competition, having hosted the 1995 tournament and bid unsuccessfully for the right to host the 2011, 2015, and 2019 tournaments.
In April 2016 the South African government banned its own rugby union from bidding to stage the 2023 World Cup over its failure to provide enough opportunities for black players. SA Rugby sought urgent talks with sports minister Fikile Mbalula in an effort to get its ban lifted in time for it to bid for the Rugby World Cup 2023. Jurie Roux, the chief executive of SA Rugby stated "There is no question that we have more work to do and we could be moving faster, but our sport has undergone a major overhaul in the past two or three years and we have definitely made great progress."
South Africa confirmed the bid on 9 May 2017 after the ban was lifted. There are optimistic projections of a R27 billion injection to the local economy by hosting the event, with a focus on eight stadiums across seven cities.
Ireland
The Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, together with the Irish Rugby Football Union, formally announced on 5 December 2014 their intentions to launch a bid to host the event. Dick Spring, former Tánaiste and Ireland rugby player, and Chair of Ireland's Rugby World Cup 2023 bid, stated in May 2015 that Ireland already had received pledges of support from 40% of World Rugby's board's 27 votes. Ireland's bid included both rugby and Gaelic games grounds. The 82,000 capacity GAA stadium Croke Park would host the final, while other newly redeveloped GAA stadia such as Casement Park, Fitzgerald Stadium, MacHale Park and Páirc Uí Chaoimh would be part of the bid. In July 2017, emergency legislation was passed by the Oireachtas to grant the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the explicit statutory authority to make the financial guarantees which Rugby World Cup Limited required.
On 15 November 2016, 12 stadia were announced as being part of the bid. The provisional list included 's home stadium, Aviva Stadium, the home grounds of Leinster, Munster and Ulster, and eight GAA grounds, with two of these from each province. Some sites, such as Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Casement Park, were then undergoing renovations or expansions. Their planned capacities, as were listed on the IRFU's website, are provided.
France
France, which hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, expressed interest in hosting the 2023 tournament. France launched its bid on 9 February 2017 revealing 19 potential host cities and an environmentally friendly transport plan. On 17 March, 12 host cities were selected. This list was later reduced to 9 cities (excluding Paris, Montpellier and Lens) :
* To replace with new stadium also before 2024 Summer Olympics
Hosting recommendation and decision
On 31 October 2017, the Rugby World Cup Limited Board submitted a comprehensive evaluation report of the bidders. The report stated that all three countries were capable of hosting the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and recommended South Africa as the preferred host in light of the report's scoring. The evaluation report included a summary of the scoring: