Former Tanaiste and three time Irish rugby international, Dick Spring says that the Irish bid already has at least 40% of the vote in the bag in their quest to host to 2023 World Cup.
Spring was appointed the chairman of the Irish bid last week and told RTE that they are already up over the 40% mark.
I would say at this stage we are already up over the 40% mark. And we would be working to build from that. But you have to get one over the quota. There is a first round of voting, and say you eliminate two at the first round, you will be voting again.
Ireland's two primary rivals for the bid are France and South Africa.
Spring indicated that Ireland had strong links with Australia and New Zealand but conceded that ties were weaker with Argentina.
One complication is that the number of votes on the world rugby board is likely to increase soon from the present 27 to between 35 and 40. Spring has said it will still be a 'dogfight' to secure the bid for Ireland.
He said one of the biggest challenges Ireland faced was convincing the international rugby community that Ireland has more than one stadium, and he numbered Croke Park (obviously), Semple Stadium and Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney as suitable venues. He said it would be a help if the Casement Park project received the go ahead but that the bid could proceed without it. Interesting, he suggested MacHale Park as another possible venue for a couple of pool games.
Spring is now better known for leading the Irish Labour party for nearly 20 years, from the early 80s until the early 2000s.
But he also played for Munster and London Irish and earned three Irish caps at full back, all coming in the 1979 Five Nations championship.
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