We should welcome the Rugby World Cup with open arms

THERE are so many reasons to like the idea of hosting the 2023 Rugby World Cup that it’s hard to know where to start.

Among them are the levels of co-operation that would be required between those who previously wouldn’t have been bedfellows but who have been building excellent relationships over the last decade or so and who would continue the process through the rugby bid — the GAA and the IRFU and the two governments on the island being the most obvious.

One wag suggested this week that it was nice of the GAA to allow the IRFU to come on board with its bid to host the event. The reason for the joke is that the semi-finals and final would have to be staged at Croke Park where 81,000 people could be accommodated, rather than the 50,000 maximum capacity of the Aviva at Lansdowne Road.