Festival feel and sold-out signs but World Cup legacy a cause for concern | Gerard Meagher

The locals offer a hundred thousand welcomes and the format adopted for the Women’s Rugby World Cup clearly works but the issue of the future of XVs hangs heavy over the proceedingsAs first impressions go, turning up for the first day of the Women’s World Cup at UCD – a prestigious university that boasts James Joyce and Brian O’Driscoll among its alumni – to be greeted by directions to the Dublin Horse Show was an inauspicious start.Take nothing away from the equine exhibition but details such as this matter with Ireland in the running to host the 2023 men’s World Cup and determined to show th…