South Africa: How the 2023 Rugby World Cup controversy has derailed hosting chances – report
Nelson Mandela hands Francois Pienaar the Webb Ellis Cup, and Springboks celebrate title in 2023.
South Africa may be the most successful nation ever at the Rugby World Cup but it will be a long time before they next host the competition.
That is according to Rapport, who claim that SA Rugby currently has no intention of bidding for the men’s global tournament in 2035.
South Africa last hosted the World Cup in 1995 in what was one of the most iconic in the game’s history.
Great Francois Pienaar and Nelson Mandela image
In the first RWC since apartheid ended, the competition concluded with Springboks captain Francois Pienaar lifting the Webb Ellis Cup after being handed it by president Nelson Mandela.
They have not hosted the World Cup since then, although they did bid for the 2023 tournament and were the preferred option for World Rugby.
However, it was given to France in controversial circumstances and that has had an impact on their chances of hosting it again.
“With the bid for the 2023 tournament, the South African government had to give a guarantee of R300 million (about £12.9 million). It will therefore be impossible for SARU to put in a bid for 2035,” one source told Rapport.
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The hosts for the next two men’s and women’s World Cups have already been confirmed, with Australia taking the honour in 2027 and 2029, and USA doing it for the first time in 2031 and 2033.
That means 2035 would mark 40 years since South Africa last did it, with the 2023 disappointment becoming a source of frustration for the country.
The Springboks gained revenge by beating Les Bleus in the quarter-final at the Stade de France and then going on to win the global tournament once again – their second in succession and fourth in total.
As centre Damian de Allende explained earlier this year, they certainly had no sympathy for the French when they ousted them in the last-eight.
Damian de Allende: ‘People forget what France did to host the World Cup’
‘A bit more personal’
“I didn’t feel sorry for them,” De Allende told RugbyPass.
“I don’t feel sorry for them because of the way the World Cup bid went and how it was taken away from us as South Africa.
“For me, it was just a bit more personal – for all of us – once we understood what actually happened [with the bidding process] and Rassie explained what actually happened – it gave us a bit of an edge for the quarter-final.
“We haven’t hosted a World Cup since 1995, and I don’t know when we will host another World Cup in South Africa, but 2023 was probably our best chance, and it felt like it was in our hands and then just got taken away from us.
“Rassie brought it up, and it’s hard because sometimes you read things [in the press], and it’s always made out to be that we are the bad guys, but people forget what France did to host the World Cup again.
“So yeah, I don’t feel sorry for them, it’s sport. It’s tough losing by one point, especially in a quarter-final final at home, but it is what it is.”