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IRFU CEO Promises World Cup 'Like No Other' If Country Wins '23 Bid

Irish Rugby Football Union CEO Philip Browne said that Ireland is in a "unique position" to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, according to RTÉ. Browne was speaking at the end of an "intensive two-day visit by the World Rugby Technical Review Group designed to assess the credibility of the tournament's prospective hosts." Ireland is one of three nations currently in the running, alongside France and South Africa, "but the only one to have not yet hosted the event." Browne said, "We are confident that Ireland 2023 will be a tournament like no other. ... In addition, we believe the fact that Ireland has not previously hosted a Rugby World Cup is a positive dimension to our bid." Ireland's "hopes of hosting the tournament were boosted last September when Italy withdrew its bid." Questions have also been raised about the "status of the South African bid in the wake of Durban being stripped of hosting rights to the 2022 Commonwealth Games" (RTE, 3/22). In London, Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh reported Ireland's RWC 2023 Bid Oversight Board Chair Dick Spring said that the country put together a "Rolls Royce" of a bid to host the tournament. Browne said that commercial success and financial return for World Rugby is "the key motivator, with Irish governments north and south promising to bankroll" the €127M ($137M) tournament fee. The two governments -- as well as the U.K. government -- also vowed that "Brexit would not stop the event from going ahead." Browne: "No one knows at this stage how Brexit is going to manifest itself. The one thing that we do have is a commitment from the governments in the Republic of Ireland, the Northern Ireland Executive and indeed Whitehall in the U.K. to ensure that nothing will stand in the way." Ireland's "iconic stadiums" were presented in a video, released to the public on Wednesday, with retired Irish internationals Paul O'Connell and Phillip Matthews "showcasing Thomond Park and Kingspan Stadium, after the main Dublin venues." As Browne outlined in November, when the bid was first unveiled, Ireland’s "transatlantic reach is a key selling point" in its pursuit of the 19 votes required to win the right to host the '23 tournament. He said, "We have a diaspora of 70 million -- 35 million of whom live in the U.S. and another four and a half million in Canada, who, as we know, activate around all things Irish" (LONDON TIMES, 3/23).

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