November 15th.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is D-Day in the contest of Ireland vs France vs South Africa. The host of the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be announced on that day, and it has emerged today that Ireland's bid has received a boost thanks to some classic French in-fighting.
The French, it seems, are missing the great Irish talent for bandwagoning. Whereas Leo Varadkar is willing to hitch himself to any potentially successful bid, French president Emmanuel Macron has refused to record a video in support of the bid, reneging on an original plan to do so.
The final presentations take place in London tomorrow before World Rugby's technical review committee, and Macron will not be present, unlike our Leo who will be there and may or may not be wearing some novelty rugby socks.
Macron's decision is seen as a swipe at French Rugby president Bernard Laporte, who has become embroiled in controversy. As president of the French rugby Federation, he reportedly intervened directly to show preferential treatment in disciplinary cases to Montpellier, whose owner Laporte enjoys a business relationship with.
This news emerges days after further reports that the French were getting increasingly desperate in their scrap to host the tournament again: they promised to stump up a bonus €35 million to add to the €120 million hosting fee.
They guaranteed that this fee would be underwritten by the French government. The failure of Macron to back the bid by recording a video and appearing in London tomorrow would seem to put that into doubt.
[the Sunday Times]
