The IRISH RUGBY thread

[AZOffaly]

Cork County Board laughing no doubt

Frank Murphy's reach knows no bounds.

[Bord na Mona man]

Report can be found here https://www.worldrugby.org/news/291551

Venues, host cities and infrastructure a big factor in SA getting the nod. Craic wasn't a major weighting factor unfortunately.

Padraic Duffy will be choking on his lunch. How very dare they cast aspersions on our grounds?

Aye, unfortunately it was a big factor. And for the most part, the Irish venues don't offer a particularly welcoming experience.

The report said about Ireland:

"All but two of the venues require significant levels of upgrade and/or installation of technology and telecoms infrastructure. Telecommunications diversity needs to be added at all but two venues. Capacity needs to be increased at all venues to meet the required standard.

• The amount of upgrade work required introduces complexity and therefore a significant risk factor that is not is not inherent in the other two bids."

The evaluation process they've used this time was never going to suit a bid like Ireland's that was high on the feel good factor. Prior to this I think we would have won based on decent lobbying and a charm offensive.

An army of Bob Geldofs, Liam Neesons and Bonos was not going to get the scores in the right categories.

The bid probably needed a big cheque showing that money was going to be spent on venues, key infrastructure projects like Metro North and a tournament bigger fee promised.

Address these areas and maybe a tilt at 2027 is on the cards. A lukewarm 2019 tournament in Japan might cause them to better value host countries that really embrace the competition.

[Bord na Mona man]

Report can be found here https://www.worldrugby.org/news/291551

Venues, host cities and infrastructure a big factor in SA getting the nod. Craic wasn't a major weighting factor unfortunately.

I know you are being facetious, but maybe Craic should be a major factor. We know people like coming here, and surely fan enjoyment should be a major thing?

Agree with you. In trying to keep the process transparent and above board, the RW crew have probably gone too far down the route of suited consultants with spreadsheets doing the evaluation.
The overriding imponderables, like the security problems in SA and their government being flaky about hosting don't get captured.

[yellowcard]

I had got the previous impression that the Ireland bid was going to be the winning bid from most commentators in the media. However it was mostly Irish pundits that were putting across such a view so maybe they were just completely blinkered. The bottom line is that money talks and South Africa were putting up an extra €40m so they could dress up the report whatever way they want to justify choosing South Africa. Personally I'm not overly bothered whether it came to Ireland or not although it would have been good for the economy and also good to host a world event on an all island basis.   

[yellowcard]

How did they justify giving NZ the world cup in 2011 when some of their venues had grassy banks for spectators on either side of the pitch? 

[Bord na Mona man]

How did they justify giving NZ the world cup in 2011 when some of their venues had grassy banks for spectators on either side of the pitch?

This is first time they've tried this route. If they stick to it, I can't see a great spread of countries hosting it from now on.

[tiempo]

How did they justify giving NZ the world cup in 2011 when some of their venues had grassy banks for spectators on either side of the pitch?

Justified on that basis well if the competition grows as we hope it may never be back in NZ (aye right) and so we should give it to them now just in case they never see it again.

Genuinely.

[oakleaflad]

What's the point in having this vote next month then if countries are being told who to vote for? Sounds like South Africa had the biggest brown envelope to me.

[seafoid]

Dublin doesn't even have a train link to the airport. Much poorer countries do things better in this areason than we do.

Irish infrastructure reflects Irish planning. It is not a national strength.

[tiempo]

How did they justify giving NZ the world cup in 2011 when some of their venues had grassy banks for spectators on either side of the pitch?

This is first time they've tried this route. If they stick to it, I can't see a great spread of countries hosting it from now on.

A shakedown to squeeze the paddies out of it. Nit-picking as mentioned above. Quantifying the unquantifiable. Nebulous antics.

[AZOffaly]

What's the point in having this vote next month then if countries are being told who to vote for? Sounds like South Africa had the biggest brown envelope to me.

this is where we miss Fianna Fail in power. They invented brown envelopes.

[AZOffaly]

How did they justify giving NZ the world cup in 2011 when some of their venues had grassy banks for spectators on either side of the pitch?

This is first time they've tried this route. If they stick to it, I can't see a great spread of countries hosting it from now on.

A shakedown to squeeze the paddies out of it. Nit-picking as mentioned above. Quantifying the unquantifiable. Nebulous antics.

Welllllll I do think they are probably spot on about limitations in our grounds. I can't even remember all the GAA grounds included, but I'd imagine they would all need a fairly significant upgrade in terms of press facilities, crowd comforts etc. It's all very well saying we'll invest, but it's still a big gap.

[weareros]

The feckers. There must have been no points for inventing the garryowen.

[mouview]

Never again, until the next time, will I invest blind faith into unwarranted commentary hype, aspirational desire and media brainwashing.
It's all down to the traffic issues with Pearse stadium I bet.

[magpie seanie]

GAA is to blame obviously.