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SO CLOSE YET SO FAR . . . South Africa narrowly lost the bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup yesterday

LONDON. — France is toasting the announcement that it will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup after being named the surprise winner of a secret World Rugby council ballot in London yesterday. The bid beat off competition from the preferred hosts, South Africa – who play France in Paris on Saturday – and Ireland having received the nomination after a second round of voting was required.

The World Rugby chairman, Bill Beaumont, who announced France as the winners, said: “We were fortunate to have three great bids. Two of the candidates will be extremely disappointed obviously. I am delighted for France. It’s going to be a really exciting tournament.” The decision came following two weeks of rancour and recrimination from the Irish and French bid teams after the publication of World Rugby’s independent evaluation report at the end of last month which recommended South Africa be nominated as hosts.

It was the first time that World Rugby had commissioned and made public such a report and there was no precedent as to whether council members would rubber-stamp South Africa as the 2023 host, or vote according to other criteria. The members were not bound by the outcome of the technical report but it will be of great embarrassment to World Rugby that France has prevailed considering this process was adopted in the interests of transparency.

None of the three teams were allowed to change the details or their bid or offer inducements to council members but there were reports of the very horse-trading and lobbying that the process was designed to prevent in the run-up to the vote. In the first round of voting, France recorded 18 votes, two short of the 20 majority required, with South Africa recording 13 and Ireland 8. In round two, France received 24 votes to secure victory with South Africa on 15. South Africa insiders had feared the worst on the eve of the vote having declined to lobby for support. In the wake of the announcement, John Smit, who lifted the World Cup for the Springboks in 2007, posted on twitter: “That is devastating news, the joys of a secret ballot.” — The Guardian