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Look who's backing France's 2023 Rugby World Cup bid

Dan Carter

Dan Carter has emerged as France’s not-very-secret weapon in its bid to win the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

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The two-time World Champion, world’s leading international points scorer and all-round rugby demigod, who has just started the final season of his big-money three-year deal with Racing 92, will help France’s bid team deliver its presentation to World Rugby representatives in London on Monday, September 25, France 2023 director Claude Atcher said in a wide-ranging Q&A interview with Le Figaro.

World Rugby’s official preferred bid recommendation will follow on October 31, followed by the decisive vote on November 15.

Carter’s support for the French cause is a slice of good news for the bid, which hit something of a rocky patch this week.

The FFR has been forced to issue an apology over its reaction on Twitter to a Deloitte technical study into all three bids commissioned by World Rugby.

The report, released at the weekend, rated the France bid ahead of rivals Ireland and South Africa in three of five criteria, and second in the other two. But, as the apology pointed out, it did not officially put France ahead in the race to host the tournament.

Despite the embarrassment of that apology, France 2023 organisers remain publicly confident that they can continue to win hearts and minds among those who matter ahead of the all-important vote in just over two months’ time.

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“Unless there’s a cataclysm, I am sure we will win,” Atcher said. “From an economic and financial point of view, it [the French bid] is the best.”

France 2023 is piggybacking Paris’s successful bid to host the 2024 Olympics. Infrastructure improvements for the Games would be in place in time for the World Cup, if France gets the nod.

The French may be confident of the quality of their bid, but Ireland has long been the rugby romantics’ favourite to host the event after Japan.

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B
BeamMeUp 1 hour ago
The Springboks have something you don't have

A few comments. Firstly, I am a Bok fan and it's been a golden period for us. I hope my fellow Bok fans appreciate this time and know that it cannot last forever, so soak it all in!


The other thing to mention (and this is targeted at Welsh, English and even Aussie supporters who might be feeling somewhat dejected) is that it's easy to forget that just before Rassie Erasmus took over in 2018, the Boks were ranked 7th in the world and I had given up hope we'd ever be world beaters again.


Sport is a fickle thing and Rassie and his team have managed to get right whatever little things it takes to make a mediocre team great. I initially worried his methods might be short-lived (how many times can you raise a person's commitment by talking about his family and his love of his country as a motivator), but he seems to have found a way. After winning in 2019 on what was a very simple game plan, he has taken things up ever year - amazing work which has to be applauded! (Dankie Rassie! Ons wardeer wat jy vir die ondersteuners en die land doen!) (Google translate if you don't understand Afrikaans! 😁)


I don't think people outside South Africa fully comprehend the enormity of the impact seeing black and white, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa and all the other hues playing together does for the country's sense of unity. It's pure joy and happiness.


This autumn tour has been a bit frustrating in that the Boks have won, but never all that convincingly. On the one hand, I'd like to have seen more decisive victories, BUT what Rassie has done is expose a huge number of players to test rugby, whilst also diversifying the way the Boks play (Tony Brown's influence).


This change of both style and personnel has resulted in a lack of cohesion at times and we've lost some of the control, whereas had we been playing our more traditional style, that wouldn't happen. This is partially attributable to the fact that you cannot play Tony Brown's expansive game whilst also having 3 players available at every contact point to clear the defence off the ball. I have enjoyed seeing the Boks play a more exciting, less attritional game, which is a boring, albeit effective spectacle. So, I am happy to be patient, because the end justifies the means (and I trust Rassie!). Hopefully all these players we are blooding will give us incredible options for substitutions come next year's Rugby Championship and of course, the big prize in 2027.


Last point! The game of rugby has never been as exciting as it is now. Any of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Argentina, Scotland, England & Australia can beat one another. South Africa may be ranked #1, but I wouldn't bet my house in them beating France or New Zealand, and we saw Argentina beating both South Africa and New Zealand this year! That's wonderful for the game and makes the victories we do get all the sweeter. Each win is 100% earned. Long may it last!


Sorry for the long post! 🏉🌍

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LONG READ Gatland defiant but Welsh rugby no nearer escape route with Springboks looming Gatland defiant but Welsh rugby no nearer escape route with Springboks looming
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