World Rugby chief to consider emerging nations like Ireland for 2027 Rugby World Cup

World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont suggested last week that the Rugby World Cup could be held in emerging nations like Ireland, Argentina, Canada and the USA in the future after the 2023 Rugby World Cup was awarded to France last year.

The FFR saw off bids from the IRFU and South Africa Rugby to host the 2023 tournament despite World Rugby’s Technical Review group endorsing the South African bid after a 10-month review of all three bids. The 2023 tournament will be the second time World Rugby's premier showcase will be held in France, which will also run just before the 2024 Olympics in Paris, but Beaumont suggested that World Rugby will need to have further debate over what type of nations will host their flagship tournament in the future.

"World Rugby will have to have a philosophical debate going forward," Beaumont told reporters last week. "It's important that we are commercially successful but we do need to have that debate whether the next World Cup following France will go to an emerging country or an established country that actually needs a bit of help as well. "Do you say to Argentina, do you say to Ireland, Canada, the USA, these are countries we're going to because actually strategically, that is going to make the biggest difference in that area?"

An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, commented after the failed 2023 bid that there may be occasions in the future where Ireland could show the world what they're capable of and that the independent review group did identify Ireland as capable hosts, even if there are still a number of concerns around potential bids.

"I am of course deeply disappointed by this result but I wish France the very best in their preparations for Rugby World Cup 2023. World Rugby had a choice of three excellent contenders," said Varadkar. "As someone who has been involved in the bid from the beginning, I had hoped that Ireland would be selected. But we were beaten by another excellent candidate and I know that France will host a superb tournament in 2023. I have no regrets about bidding for the tournament and I want to thank everyone who was involved in it. "We should never forget that the technical report found that Ireland would be excellent hosts for Rugby World Cup 2023, and there may be other occasions for Ireland to show the world what we are capable of."