Ireland deliver World Cup presentation to host RWC 2023

Ireland delivered their World Cup bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup to the World Rugby Council in London.

The Irish delegation led by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, bid ambassador Brian O'Driscoll and IRFU chief executive Philip Browne are quietly confident they delivered their 30-minute pitch to officials to the best of their ability.

Former Ireland captain O'Driscoll spoke to the media afterwards and admitted he was happy with the impression made:

"I think it went pretty well. We got good feedback, some interesting questions that were answered with confidence.

"Overall we’re pleased with where we’ve managed to deliver our pitch. It’s been the culmination of a lot of years' work. It is nervous moments.

"We did a lot of rehearsing over the last weekend to get that right. I felt all five speakers probably peaked today.

"Hopefully the message we delivered to World Rugby and the council members will stick with them for their decision on 15 November."

"People can expect to be smothered with love" - Brian O'Driscoll was asked what makes #Ireland2023 bid special pic.twitter.com/xpV30asSog

— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) September 25, 2017

The bid required seven years of planning and execution, and Browne is confident their presentation was “very well received”. 

“We went through our presentation in the full 30 minutes and answered a number of questions. 

“The questions probably mirror some of the floor here today. One of them was about infrastructure, Brexit and another about corporate hospitality. We were able to answer those questions without any great issue.

“As the process has gone on, we’ve become more and more confident of the credibility of our financial package and the bid that we’ve put together.''

The bidding party spoke positively about Ireland's ability to make visitors feel at home in the country and feels the popularity of the country could make it a World Cup to cherish for spectators.

"We’re hugely proud of our visitors and our tourists that come to the country. We want to send them away with great memories. We’re sports lovers. It’s not just big rugby fans. You find people loving multiple sports. GAA fans like rugby, soccer fans like GAA.

The Rugby World Cup board will make it's recommendation on October 31st before the final decision on who will host the tournament on the 15th of November.