World Rugby is reported in the English Daily Telegraph to be considering another change to the process of awarding future Rugby World Cups.

According to their story, the World Rugby Council meeting in Dublin on Monday included informal discussion around the potential for awarding three world cups at a time next time around, for 2027, 2031 and 2035, and that while two of these would follow the path of maximising revenue for the sport, one would be awarded for ‘developmental’ reasons.

The suggestion is that this might encourage the IRFU to reenter the race to host having expressed disillusion at the fact of not being able to compete on a level playing field with bigger nations through never having been able to host such a major event and prove our credentials in advance.

The French bid won by a secret vote in the end despite having finished behind South Africa in the Technical group report.

Read our views on how that process unfolded.

It is likely that France 2023 will generate as much as twice a financial return for the sport as was achieved by England in 2015, and that this finance will support the sport in a global and development context throughout the for year cycle and beyond.

The proposal was not formally discussed and the next opportunity to do that would be in November.  Another six-year lead in time to 2027 would mean a bidding process completing in 2021 so there is time to make any changes.

The Telegraph reports World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont as saying:

“Do you always chase the pound, euro or dollar? Or sometimes do we think we are going to have to take less money out of it as organisers – and our members understand the consequences of that – and we use it as a development tool to grow the game.”

“It could well be in Ireland, the USA, Argentina or anywhere on the planet that where we feel that as a world body, that is where we need to put our showpiece event. It is incumbent on us to do that.”

“I have already been in dialogue with colleagues and members of the executive team. The debate needs to happen. We have a responsibility to expand the game and take it to areas that wouldn’t necessarily get it on financial grounds.”

It is too early to consider whether the IRFU would consider another bid, having been bruised by the process over the past two years. Nevertheless, it is often the lessons of losing that give you the foundation from which to eventually win so it would be wrong to say never and these latest hints from World rugby will perhaps set a few juices running again in Dublin 4.

Joe Schmidt is renowned for his mantra of taking one game at a time, one phase at a time. As administrators though the horizon has to be much longer and perhaps when Irish and Scottish officials meet in Dublin this weekend there will be less shrugged shoulders and sense of betrayal over voting with friends at club level and more looking to going again within the coming years.

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