Q&A: More questions than answers from Rugby World Cup 2023 verdict

How did the voting work?

Tier one nations — Argentina, Australia, England, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales — had three votes each. Japan, the 2019 hosts, had two votes, while Canada, Georgia, Romania, the United States and six regional associations had two votes each. Bidding nations did not vote. The ballot was secret, so unless nations publicly disclosed their voting intentions then it was not possible to ascertain who voted for who. But it would seem England was the only one of the tier one nations to vote for us.

Why did Ireland only get eight votes?