‘Rugby is no longer that romantic sport… rugby needs money’

Romantic rugby’s dead and gone, It’s with #ReadyForTheWorld in the grave.

Paul O'Connell, Brian O'Driscoll, Bernard Brogan, misty-eyed prose, Liam Neeson, Bob Geldof, Croke bloody Park and a catchy hashtag. And Leo said we'd give you the money. What more do these rugby unions want?! More, it turned out. A lot more. France may have been hit with some internal rigmaroles, red-faced admissions, a distinct lack of Emmanuel Macron and FFR president Bernard Laporte flipping off all comers but the nation has a proven track record and can bring in the bread. Forget Fitzgerald Stadium, these lads have a heap of rugby and football grounds ready to roll out. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/930924373644627968 Ireland, and the IRFU, were encouraged to get involved in the bidding process for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. We were told we had a chance before discovering we had a gnat-sized possibility of taking the hosting rights from the big boys. The World Cup is off to Japan in two years and no-one has a definitive rashers as to how it will fare. For example, will you - loyal Irish rugby fan - splash out thousands upon thousands to see if we can breach the quarter finals for the first time ever? You might say 'Yes' but see if the bank balance agrees with you in 2019. The Irish bid got 8 votes out of 39, on Wednesday, and was eliminated after the first round. England gave us 3 of those votes and Japan owed us one for us backing them for RWC 2019. France had done their promising, schmoozing, glad-handing and showed glossy pictures of their eight ready-to-rock stadia. They wiped the floor with us, then swatted South Africa aside. Nice scarves lads but we'll be hosting this one. The successful French bid, and Ireland's abject failure, was discussed on The Hard Yards [from 1:00 below] and Welsh journalist Paul Williams had some home truths to dole out. "I can understand how you feel [in Ireland] and it must be awful," said a consoling Williams.

"The romantic in everyone wanted the World Cup to go to Ireland but, sadly, rugby is no longer that romantic sport." Williams added, "World Rugby will have learned an awful lot from this but the overall take-out is that rugby needs money, more than ever."

Williams highlighted the recent money and gate receipt-sharing issues with rugby-playing nations from the Pacific Islands as a live example of how the game is having its coffers stretched. With the game's governing body taking a risk on the Japanese World Cup bringing in money, he believes French assurances swayed the day. The French bid was said to be guaranteeing €350 million for the hosting rights, whereas Ireland and South Africa were down at the €270m mark. "I can understand why the World Cup went to France," Williams added, "because money talks." So, do Ireland throw their hat in the ring again? On Rugby Tonight, Brian O'Driscoll [part of the Irish bid team] said it costs between €3.5m and €4m to put a decent bid together so it will not be considered lightly. The southern hemisphere will surely get a snap at the 2027 cherry so maybe, between ourselves and the North, we'll cobble together the €4m ... or whatever inflation makes it in 8 years time. In short, sod that.