Rugby World Cup 2023 travel reconnaissance missions to France get under way

Ireland fans in Bordeaux, at the last Rugby World Cup in France back in 2007. Picture: Sportsfile

The Two Years To Go milestone has been passed for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but travel agents are already being deluged with inquiries about the best way to see Ireland play in and make the most of their time in France between matches.

In travel terms, Ireland have been handed a peach of a draw with matches in Bordeaux and Nantes before the business end of the pool stages takes them to Paris to face world champions South Africa and Scotland at Stade de France, where, fingers crossed, Andy Farrell’s men will do enough to progress to the knockout rounds, also in the French capital.

Paddy Baird is certainly bracing for huge demand from Ireland supporters, even two years out. As the boss at Killester Travel, the official Rugby World Cup travel agents for Ireland, he has been planning for this tournament for 12 months already, and has recently returned from France following a reconnaissance trip.

You can be sure the four other agents around Ireland offering similar World Cup 2023 packages as official sub-agents — Cassidy Travel, Club Travel, Stein Travel, and Rugby Travel Ireland — will have been doing the same, while this week’s release of more match tickets will allow for more independent-minded supporters to plan their own trips.

Either way, Baird told the Irish Examiner: “It’s going to be in great demand. There’s no doubt the tournament is going to be a sell-out, each town is going to have their World Cup Rugby villages with bands playing and the atmosphere is going to be incredible.

“The French know their rugby and there’s a huge local interest in all the games in the various regions. That’s put huge pressure on the tickets, which is brilliant for the organisers because they know it’s going to be a great success and it’s going to start on September 8 with France versus New Zealand, which is going to be one of the biggest openers to any World Cup.

“We had our first-phase launch in March, and that was sold out in days and we’re having our second-phase launch at the end of September, which will be our official Rugby World Cup ticket packages, the weekend or two or three-night packages, and the longer tours as well.”

Group tours are not for everyone though, says Baird.

“If you don’t want to be stuck with 50 people you don’t know, you can do your own thing,” he said. “You could book one of the two-night packages with the tickets around each match and then go off and do your own thing in between — hire a car or a camper van and go off on your own and be very independent during the weeks.”

Other are renting their own houses close to TGV train stations so they have easy access into Bordeaux, Nantes, or Paris for match days.

The group tour does work for many, many rugby supporters, however, and Killester took more than 1,000 of them to Japan for the 2019 World Cup.

“France will be a multiple of that, it’s obviously a lot closer, the tournament keeps growing in popularity around the world, and since 2007, the Irish team has created a lot of momentum as well. So we’ll be busy.”

Baird has seen a changing dynamic in the nature of the demand since the first World Cup in France 14 years ago.

“In comparison with 2007, where I think people just treated the World Cup in France then as more like Six Nations weekends, one after the other, we’re finding now that people are much more travel-adventurous and the locations that Ireland have are actually very good, on the west coast.

“Ireland start in Bordeaux and then go to Nantes and then you can go up the Loire Valley and into Paris for the rest of the games. So they’re really exciting locations, and we’re putting together packages now where people can go for 10 days right up to experiencing the whole thing. Our early estimates are that maybe 40% of people will be travelling to see France as opposed to staying only for the matches over a weekend and then going home again. That’s a noticeable difference.”

“People are really looking forward to it already. The demand has been incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it. Covid has impacted that in the sense that people couldn’t go anywhere for 18 months. The Rugby World Cup was launched, people who tried to get tickets and didn’t get them then looked to the likes of us, the official agents and book travel packages.

“And it’s far enough away that hopefully the Covid situation, albeit that it may still be around from some time to be, at least it can be controlled and people are living with it.”

As Baird suggests, France is hardly virgin territory in rugby terms, but the scale of this demands a fresh look.

“We’ve been to France many times before with Munster and Leinster, Connacht and Ulster, for the Heineken [Cup] trips, and we know it pretty well, but with the volume of people we’re going to be bringing, we need a lot more hotels, we need restaurants, we need recommendations for places to go, vineyards.

“And there are plenty of ways to see it. We’re trying to cover all the angles, and campervan tours and cycling tours are part of that.

“The IRFU Charitable Trust are cycling from Bordeaux up to Nantes, and we’ll be bringing them to distilleries and vineyards and seeing some of the places the Wild Geese established when the Irish came after the Jacobite Wars,” says Baird.

“There’s so much to do and see, and the rugby as well.”

Three great places to visit in France

Wine-tasting at Chateau de Rouillac or many of the other vineyards near Bordeaux are likely to feature on the itineraries of many fans in two years’ time. Picture: Mehdi Fedouach/AFP via Getty Images

BORDEAUX

Saturday, September 9, 2023 — 3:30pm local time: Ireland v Europe 2 Qualifier, Stade de Bordeaux

It all starts here for Ireland and what a place to begin a World Cup adventure

“It’s a beautiful city,” says Paddy Baird of official 2023 Rugby World Cup agents Killester Travel. “It has a wonderful tram system, as does Nantes, so access is really good from its airport.

“On the river Garonne, it is a classical city which has undergone huge redevelopment in its docklands with new hotels using restored grain silos as their facades.

“It’s creating a lovely feeling down by the river and you can also cruise down the Garonne.

“St Emilion is half an hour away and is a Unesco heritage site.

“There are plenty of vineyards to visit with tastings from €20 up and you can go the whole hog and dine there at them as well.”

LA ROCHELLE

Baird suggests this port on the Bay of Biscay as an ideal stop-off point between games.

“We’ll head up to Nantes via La Rochelle, which is another beautiful place, like the Kinsale of France’s west coast — I’ve never seen a place with more restaurants and bars. And loads to do as well, including Île de Ré, a stunning nearby island great for cycling.”

NANTES

Saturday, September 16 — 9pm local time: Ireland v Asia/Europe 1 qualifier, Stade de la Beaujoire

A new destination in terms of rugby, it is less touristic than Bordeaux, says Baird.

“It’s a city with an industrial background but it’s been developed in an industrial-chic type of way. They’re taking old warehouses and turning them into really good destination bars and restaurants with lovely lighting all by the Loire river.

“I think Nantes is going to be a really exciting place for people to go and when you’re finished there you can fire up the Loire Valley and all the vineyards. We went to Saumur, Tours, beautiful places with fairytale castles.”