France willing to spend extra cash on RWC bid

Editor

France would be happy to pay World Rugby a £150 million hosting fee to secure the 2023 Rugby World Cup, overpaying the standard fee by £30 million.

The selected host nation is expected to fork out £120 million to World Rugby when hosting, but France has offered an extra £30 million to try and get a leg up on hosting rivals Ireland and South Africa.

“You have to pay a fee to host. It is a minimum. We have proposed not £120 million but £150 million pounds,” France’s bid leader Claude Atcher told RTE.

“This fee is 100 percent guaranteed by the French government.”

Ireland, France, South Africa have each submitted formal bids to secure hosting rights for the 2023 tournament.

Atcher believes France must host the World Cup to safeguard international rugby’s future.

“We have a responsibility to support the development of rugby in the world because, if we don’t do anything, in five to 10 years you will have two, three to four teams on the same level and that’s all, and then rugby will die,” he added.

“If we are awarded the World Cup it will accelerate our political changes with the professional championship in France. If we don’t change the rules in five years or 10 years, all South African, Australian and New Zealand players will play in France, in England.

“The best players are not playing for the national team so the results are not as expected by the unions, so it’s very damaging.”

On Monday, the three bidding nations will present their proposals to the voting bodies. The final decision on who will host will be announced on November 15.