Who should host the 2023 Rugby World Cup?

[Rascar]

I would reiterate I think Italy would be a great choice after Japan, as it could be considered both a 'banker' TV and support wise as well as an 'expansion' tournament. It would probably be obligatory to give the standard pool stage and semi final to Cardiff, but there you are.

By 2027 Agentina would surely be in a very good position to host, and by then would be the only major country not to have hosted, and even if they only manage to keep their head above water in the 4 nations they would seem long over due for the WC.

If Russia continues to qualify for WCs, their team improves and the professional league stays afloat I can see them putting forward a strong case for the following one. Being in Europe in would also allow Cardiff to retain their traditional pool and knock out matches.

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by Rascar

I would reiterate I think Italy would be a great choice after Japan, as it could be considered both a 'banker' TV and support wise as well as an 'expansion' tournament. It would probably be obligatory to give the standard pool stage and semi final to Cardiff, but there you are.

By 2027 Agentina would surely be in a very good position to host, and by then would be the only major country not to have hosted, and even if they only manage to keep their head above water in the 4 nations they would seem long over due for the WC.

If Russia continues to qualify for WCs, their team improves and the professional league stays afloat I can see them putting forward a strong case for the following one. Being in Europe in would also allow Cardiff to retain their traditional pool and knock out matches.

[jpgjohnnyg]

'Rugby WC in Ireland does nothing for the game'
MS20 Do you want to explain in more detail is it because rugby is already well established and unlikely to expand (its still only the 4th most popular team sport in the country but you are ok with SA how come? Obviously the USA idea is likely although not for the myth of expansion more just a money grab just like Japan 2019 sure why not Qatar also they will have a number of empty stadia to use post 2022

[bolg]

Originally Posted by likasz

If WC2019 will be a disaster in terms of attendance and organization so I believe that the IRB will return to a country where rugby is really really popular. It might be Argentina or Italy.

But If WC2019 will works really fine so they could try with countries like Canda, USA or Portugal.

Spain and Germany are not a good idea.

The 2023 host has to be decided before 2019 though.

So far every second WC has been played in Europe, so that's what I think they'll go for.

[Weebie]

Italy or South Africa.

A Celtic bid would be a waste of time but the IRB are a bunch of clueless muppets and to be honest after the disgraceful decision to award it to NZ nothing suprises me.

[EdooGdl]

I think Argentina could host a RWC because their rugby tradition and the level and world fame of the Pumas, but speaking in a objetive way Argentina don´t have world class stadiums, except for 2 or 3 stadiums like Estadio Unico la Plata. In these terms the stadiums in Italy are way better than the argentinian. Argentina must build or renovate their stadiums with potencial like Colón Santa Fé stadium, River Plate stadium, Rosario Central stadium, Velez stadium, Indepentiende Stadium, San Juan stadium, etc. and do a better work than the disappointing stadium improvements in Copa América.

[munster rugby]

Originally Posted by Weebie

Italy or South Africa.

A Celtic bid would be a waste of time but the IRB are a bunch of clueless muppets and to be honest after the disgraceful decision to award it to NZ nothing suprises me.

c'mon the irish

[CharlieP]

I'd like to see a RWC in Ireland, but having it in the British Isles (if you count 2007 ) every other rotation seems a bit too cozy and parochial. South Africa or Italy in 2023 for me.

[Pepe potamo]

When is this decission to be make?

[vitaming]

The IRB aren't that organised. If they follow their previous formula (which was itself new), they'll announce 2023 & 27 sometime mid-2017. Though with some variables surrounding Japan and 2019, who knows... they may wait to see what sort of profit that tournament spins.

If it hasn't been mentioned, the president of the Brazilian union has recently spoken of a desire to host matches in 23 or 27.

[Lord David]

Originally Posted by CharlieP

I'd like to see a RWC in Ireland, but having it in the British Isles (if you count 2007 ) every other rotation seems a bit too cozy and parochial. South Africa or Italy in 2023 for me.

The problem is the Gaelic Athletic Association's stubbornness. It's unlikely that they'll evolve and allow use of their stadiums for such a major event.

That being said, they did allow Croke Park to be used for Rugby and Football when the other stadium was being redeveloped.

Perhaps they will evolve in the future and see this as a perfect chance to get new stadiums or heavily renovated GAA ones. A Rugby World Cup in Ireland will surely see this as a key legacy, the GAA gets the modern venues they are after.

A win win situation, but will it ever occur?

[Denjiro]

South Africa or Italy!

[jpgjohnnyg]

Originally Posted by Lord David

The problem is the Gaelic Athletic Association's stubbornness. It's unlikely that they'll evolve and allow use of their stadiums for such a major event.

That being said, they did allow Croke Park to be used for Rugby and Football when the other stadium was being redeveloped.

Perhaps they will evolve in the future and see this as a perfect chance to get new stadiums or heavily renovated GAA ones. A Rugby World Cup in Ireland will surely see this as a key legacy, the GAA gets the modern venues they are after.

A win win situation, but will it ever occur?

Lord David the GAA have already gotten behind the bid and have offered 6 grounds.
Croke Park 83000 or 76000 all seater
Casement Park in Belfast is to be developed into a new 40000 seater stadium next year at a cost of 80 million pounds
Pairc ui chaiomh in Cork is to be developed into a 45000 seater stadium at a cost of 70 million euro next year
Gaelic grounds in Limerick is a 50000 capacity ground with 35000 seats built only a few yeas ago but is basic and would need upgrading
Pearse stadium in Galway has a nice 8000 stand on one side but the remaing 27000 capacity is terracing - serious upgrade needed
Fitzgerald stadium in Killarney is a dump and needs to be built again but has probably been included because Killarney is a popular tourist area and could cope with the large numbers

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by jpgjohnnyg

Lord David the GAA have already gotten behind the bid and have offered 6 grounds.
Croke Park 83000 or 76000 all seater
Casement Park in Belfast is to be developed into a new 40000 seater stadium next year at a cost of 80 million pounds
Pairc ui chaiomh in Cork is to be developed into a 45000 seater stadium at a cost of 70 million euro next year
Gaelic grounds in Limerick is a 50000 capacity ground with 35000 seats built only a few yeas ago but is basic and would need upgrading
Pearse stadium in Galway has a nice 8000 stand on one side but the remaing 27000 capacity is terracing - serious upgrade needed
Fitzgerald stadium in Killarney is a dump and needs to be built again but has probably been included because Killarney is a popular tourist area and could cope with the large numbers

With the traditional 3 or 4 games at the Millennium Stadium, no doubt.

[Rascar]

Originally Posted by CharlieP

With the traditional 3 or 4 games at the Millennium Stadium, no doubt.

Indeed. No disrespect to ireland but I think the rugby world would be bored with another "British isles" WC. Strategically for the sport the next European WC should be in Italy.

[CharlieP]

Agreed. Ireland for RWC 2031.

[TEBC]

Originally Posted by vitaming

The IRB aren't that organised. If they follow their previous formula (which was itself new), they'll announce 2023 & 27 sometime mid-2017. Though with some variables surrounding Japan and 2019, who knows... they may wait to see what sort of profit that tournament spins.

If it hasn't been mentioned, the president of the Brazilian union has recently spoken of a desire to host matches in 23 or 27.

He is out of his mind!! They have this crazy idea to turn Rugby a big sport in Brazil! im sure that will happen soon, but not in less than 30 years.

[Boca J]

If the World Cup was to go ahead in Ireland in 2023 there are probably 2 scenarios on how the Rugby World Cup might look. The first Rugby World Cup would be an All-Ireland World Cup where all games are played in Ireland. The second scenario would be to use 10 stadiums in Ireland with the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Murrayfield in Edinburgh. I think the second scenario will probably be used by the IRFU as them have only named 6 GAA stadiums that they would like to use and I can only think of 4 possible rugby stadiums that could be used. The four rugby stadiums would probably be Aviva Stadium, Thomond Park, Ravenhill Stadium and RDS Arena. The 6 GAA Stadiums named are Croke Park Dublin, Pairc Ui Chaoimh Cork, Casement Park Belfast, Gaelic Grounds Limerick, Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney and Pearse Stadium Galway. The other 2 stadiums I picked to make up the numbers to 12 stadiums are McHale Park in Castlebar and Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. But these 2 stadiums could be replaced by any other 2 suitable stadiums as long as the capacity is greater than 15,000 (minimum capacity used in New Zealand).
The second scenario would have all the same stadiums except Millennium stadium and Murrayfield would be used instead of McHale Park and Nowlan Park. The same format would probably be used as the World Cup in France in 2007 where Murrayfield got 2 pool games and Millennium Stadium got 3 pool games and a quarterfinal.

The following 12 stadiums could be used for the tournament:

Croke Park (82,300) - 7 games
Aviva Stadium (51,700) - 7 games
Pairc Ui Chaoimh (45,000) - 5 games
Casement Park (40,000) – 5 games
Thomond Park (26,500) - 4 games
Fitzgerald Stadium (43,000) - 4 games
Pearse Stadium (36,000) - 4 games
Gaelic Ground (49,500) – 3 games
Ravenhill Stadium (18,000) - 3 games
RDS Arena (18,500) - 2 games
McHale Park (42,000) - 2 games
Nowlan Park (30,000) – 2 games

I have given Croke Park and Aviva Stadium only 7 games each. This was done to spread the pool matches around the country and gives the pitches a chance to recover for the semi finals and finals. I also gave Thomond Park 4 games and Gaelic Grounds 3 games. I think 7 games is enough games for Limerick to cope with and since Thomond Park is the home of Munster rugby I gave it the extra game. I may be lower capacity but Thomond Park is a globally famous rugby playing sports field and deserves it on that basis.

To allow for the GAA All-Ireland football final to be played on the 3rd Sunday in September the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup would be held as normal the Friday. It only takes Croke Park 24 hours to convert the rugby pitch back to a Gaelic football pitch, allowing for the All-Ireland football final to take place that Sunday. There would be no rugby games played in Dublin that Sunday to overcrowding in the capital.

If we use the same groups as the 2011 World Cup and start the tournament on Friday the 15th September 2023 this is how the tournament might look:

Pool A:
Australia
Ireland
Italy
USA
Russia

Sep 15 Ireland v USA......................Croke Park
Sep 16 Australia v Italy...................Pearse Stadium
Sep 20 Russia v USA.......................McHale Park
Sep 22 Australia v Ireland...............Croke Park
Sep 24 Italy v Russia......................RDS Arena
Sep 27 Australia v USA...................Fitzgerald Stadium
Sep 30 Ireland v Russia..................Pairc Ui Chaoimh
Oct 3 Italy v USA...........................Gaelic Grounds
Oct 7 Australia v Russia..................Ravenhill Stadium
Oct 8 Ireland v Italy.......................Aviva Stadium

Pool B:
England
Argentina
Scotland
Georgia
Romania

Sep 16 Scotland v Romania...............Thomond Park
Sep 16 England v Argentina...............Aviva Stadium
Sep 20 Scotland v Georgia.................Gaelic Grounds
Sep 23 Argentina v Romania...............Fitzgerald Stadium
Sep 24 England v Georgia..................Casement Park
Sep 30 England v Romania.................Thomond Park
Oct 1 Argentina v Scotland..................Aviva Stadium
Oct 4 Georgia v Romania....................McHale Park
Oct 7 England v Scotland....................Croke Park
Oct 8 Argentina v Georgia...................Pearse Stadium
Pool C:
New Zealand
France
Tonga
Canada
Japan

Sep 17 New Zealand v Tonga...............Pairc Ui Chaoimh
Sep 17 France v Japan.........................Casement Park
Sep 21 Tonga v Canada.......................Nowlan Park
Sep 23 New Zealand v Japan................Casement Park
Sep 26 France v Canada......................Pearse Stadium
Sep 29 Tonga v Japan.........................Ravenhill Stadium
Oct 1 New Zealand v France................Croke Park
Oct 3 Canada v Japan..........................Nowlan Park
Oct 7 France v Tonga..........................Thomond Park
Oct 8 New Zealand v Canada...............Pairc Ui Chaoimh

Pool D:
South Africa
Wales
Samoa
Fiji
Namibia

Sep 16 Fiji v Namibia..........................Fitzgerald Stadium
Sep 17 South Africa v Wales...............Aviva Stadium
Sep 20 Samoa v Namibia....................RDS Arena
Sep 23 South Africa v Fiji....................Pairc Ui Chaoimh
Sep 24 Wales v Samoa.......................Thomond Park
Sep 28 South Africa v Namibia............Gaelic Grounds
Oct 1 Fiji v Samoa..............................Ravenhill Stadium
Oct 2 Wales v Namibia.......................Pearse Stadium
Oct 6 South Africa v Samoa................Fitzgerald Stadium
Oct 8 Wales v Fiji..............................Casement Park

Quarter Finals:
Oct 14 New Zealand v Argentina…………Pairc Ui Chaiomh
Oct 14 England v France......................Aviva Stadium
Oct 15 Australia v South Africa.............Casement Park
Oct 15 Ireland v Wales........................Croke Park

Semi Finals:
Oct 21 Ireland v France…………………….Croke Park
Oct 22 New Zealand v Australia............Aviva Stadium

3rd/4th Place Play-off:
Oct 27 France v Australia.....................Aviva Stadium

Rugby World Cup Final:
Oct 29 Ireland v New Zealand……………Croke Park

[Leedsrule]

Have you taken into account the fact that most of thoise capacities are standing? Are you allowed stadium in the world cup?

[munster rugby]

Originally Posted by Leedsrule

Have you taken into account the fact that most of thoise capacities are standing? Are you allowed stadium in the world cup?

They are far from mostly standing and obviously there will be redevelopment if Ireland is awarded the world cup