France may have Mike Tyson in their corner but they have absolutely no momentum.
A deleted tweet, and apology, an internal scandal and the president of France bailing ship.
The French bid team for the 2023 Rugby World Cup are making a right ricket of this one.
On November 15, in London, World Rugby will announce the tournament hosts for an event that will be held in six years’ time and has three bidding nations. Ireland are up against France and South Africa and their opening gambit – an evocative video starring Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and… Bernard Brogan – has not been beaten yet.
Ireland have backing in the north, south, east and west, and have included several fine GAA grounds as part of the official IRFU bid.
France got started late but rolled out Tyson, some ‘2023’ sponsorship on jerseys, made some back-scratching comments to Tier 2 nations and promised World Rugby their staging of a World Cup would make them the most money. The latter of those strategies is the most appealing to World Rugby, of course.
While France is still firmly in the running, its campaign is teetering.
French rugby union [FFR] president Bernard Laporte is currently fire-fighting an internal board dispute over his links with Syrian-born billionaire businessman and owner of Montpellier Rugby owner Mohed Altrad. Laporte has a business association with Altrad and many were infuriated when he personally intervened to reduce a fine Montpellier received last season.
There is also the matter of a gloating – and now deleted – tweet from the official FFR account, in which France was declared the RWC 2023 frontrunner. On Thursday, an apology was issued:
— France Rugby (@FranceRugby) September 7, 2017
The latest blow has, according to The Irish Times, come by way of French President Emmanuel Macron going back on his prior commitment to travel with the France delegation to London, on September, for a final presentation.
Having initially claimed that he would be happy to personally lead the delegation, President Macron has suddenly remembered he is double-booked.
It’s all coming up shamrocks…
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