France will host the 2023 World Cup after sealing a shock ballot victory against South Africa.
The result is a major embarrassment for World Rugby, who recommended South Africa for the hosting rights in a meticulous 139-page report.
World Rugby’s council were merely expected to ratify their proposal – overseen by former England captain Bill Beaumont – but instead offered a majority vote for France.
The FFR’s proposal won over two rounds of voting, winning the crucial second round vote by 24 votes to South Africa’s 15.
Ireland were eliminated in the first round of voting, with FFR President Bernard Laporte revealing his pride at the outcome.
‘Thank you to the ambassadors,’ said Laporte. ‘It was a heavy challenge for us but I’m very proud. Even if there was a misunderstanding, I want to thank World Rugby and thank Bill.
Like Ireland and South Africa, we had a bid which was solid. I guarantee you it will be a fantastic World Cup. I’m convinced of that.’
World Rugby proposal which was published following a detailed auditing process, but Ireland and France subsequently launched aggressive campaigns.
‘We’ve had three great bids and two of countries will be extremely disappointed,’ said Beaumont.
‘It will be an exciting tournament. It’s been a long process and a transparent process. For the first time, we’ve put the results of our evaluation process out to the public.’
‘We are bitterly disappointed at this decision and would like to apologise to the people and government of South Africa for raising their hopes,’ said Mark Alexander, president of SA Rugby.
‘We did everything in our power to bring the tournament to South Africa.
‘We produced a compelling bid document that earned the unanimous recommendation of the Rugby World Cup Ltd board. The recommendation was questioned last week by rivals, but endorsed a second time by World Rugby last week.
‘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 take into account.
‘We cannot hide our desolation but, for the sake of rugby, we wish the 2023 tournament hosts every success.’
But SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux added: ‘World Rugby ran an exhaustive, transparent process for 15 months to identify the best host nation, only for the process to go entirely opaque for the past two weeks.’
