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Roux: 28-year gap of no relevance

Cape Town - One country stands out when looking at the three nations who put their hands up to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup ... it simply HAD to be South Africa. 

The country hosted the showpiece in 1995 in what was one of the most memorable sporting events of all time, and ever since then the Springboks have been relatively dominant in world rugby.

With France having hosted the tournament as recently as 2007 and Ireland having hosted matches in 1991 and 1999, a return to Africa for the Webb Ellis Cup made sense.

On Tuesday, South Africa received a massive boost when it was named as World Rugby's official recommendation to be the host nation in 2023. 

That, it is believed, should be enough to persuade the majority of the World Rugby Council members to vote in line with the organisation's suggestion and hand the tournament to South Africa. 

But, according to SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux, the fact that South Africa was due another World Cup had absolutely no relevance to the bidding process. 

"We wanted to put forward a pretty emotional bid on the fact that it's time it returns, but there was no such criteria," Roux said in Cape Town.

"There was nothing saying that because France had it in 2007 they can't have it again, and there was nothing saying that because we haven't had it for 20-odd years, we should have it again.

"The criteria was very simple: finances, your stadia, your infrastructure, your vision ... you were evaluated purely on that."

South Africa's performance in the categories of 'venues and host cities' and 'tournament infrastructure' is what ultimately won them World Rugby's recommendation. 

The official confirmation of the host for the 2023 World Cup will come on November 15 after the World Rugby Council vote. 

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