Rugby World Cup 2023 - Ireland - how would it work?

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I'm primarily a GAA fan but also have an interest in rugby. I've done out a plan about how a Rugby World Cup in Ireland would actually work in practice, based on previous tournaments.

The 2011 tournament used 12 stadiums, 2015 will use 13, while 2019 will use 11.

If we assume that any bid will need support from Wales and Scotland, likely involving those teams having one or two of their group matches in Cardiff/Edinburgh, the minimum any tournament here will need is nine stadiums. I'll go with 11 Irish stadiums for argument's sake.

These would be
Croke Park, Dublin
82k, can be easily converted to 74k all-seated for the tournament if deemed necessary, no work needed.

Lansdowne Road, Dublin
50k all-seated, no work needed.

Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork
45k, not all-seated. I've seen the proposals for the new Pairc Ui Chaoimh and it looks like a bit of a dog's dinner, in all honesty. Three sides of the the ground will remain pretty similar to what they are now, with 1970s terracing remaining behind the goals. This is not the type of terracing that can be easily converted to seating. Cork would have to be included in any bid however and this is the only viable option.

Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney
Currently 43k but only 9k seated. Killarney is connected by rail, has an airport nearby. Connected by national primary road. Tourist hub so should be able to cater for visiting supporters. Fitzgerald Stadium would require major upgrading.

New Casement Park, Belfast (37k all-seated)
Will be part of any bid. However the rebuilding has run into legal problems with residents. Concerns remain about whether the site can cater for such a stadium and there is even talk about moving the site to nearby Musgrave Park. While the planned 2017 opening date is beginning to look optimistic, 2023 is plenty of time to get things sorted.

Thomond Park, Limerick
26k, not all-seated
Would certainly be a part of any bid. The Gaelic Grounds up the road from it holds 49,000. But do you really want a bid where three cities have more than one stadium? Likely that no work would be needed. Connected by airport, motorway and rail.

Pearse Stadium, Galway
Currently 26k with the vast majority standing. No airport, but well connected by motorway, rail and bus services. Galway is a tourist hub with enough hotel rooms to cater for supporters. Pearse Stadium would probably need one new stand to add to the existing one. However this would be problematic given that the stadium is hemmed in badly by housing - a whole host of legal issues re light etc would likely arise here. Any new stand would realistically have to buy and demolish a row of houses in what is an expensive area property-wise.

RDS, Dublin
Likely 22k all-seater by then. If the new proposal released this year goes through, the RDS could certainly hold matches, but this would be Dublin's third stadium in the bid and very much the poor relation of those three.

Celtic Park, Derry
22k currently but the vast majority standing. Derry is Ireland fourth largest city. If the bid is to be all-island it makes sense for it to be involved. Celtic Park would require significant upgrading. Rebuilding the Brandywell next door is another option. Derry is connected (poorly) by rail, national primary roads, it also has a small airport.

Ravenhill, Belfast
18k, mostly but not all-seated. Would likely be a part of any bid but could not expect to hold many matches given its small capacity.

Nowlan Park, Kilkenny:
Currently 24k with most seated. Connected by motorway and rail, a comfortable enough distance for people travelling from Dublin. Stadium will require upgrading - probably a new main stand. Kilkenny is a tourist town and well set up to cater for visitors.

Five of those stadiums are in Dublin/Belfast. The other three are in Munster, with one in the rest of Leinster, one in Connacht and one in the rest of Ulster.

Killarney would be the only town hosting a match, the others are all cities.

Six matches including two quarter-finals in my sample bid are played in Wales/Scotland, three in Cardiff, three in Edinburgh. 2015 has six matches in Wales, none in Scotland. 2007 had four in Wales, two in Scotland. Therfore Ireland would host 42 of the 48 matches.

Seven of the stadiums would be GAA venues, the other four existing rugby grounds. Lansdowne Road would likely host the opening match, with Croke Park the final, given its greater capacity.

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Let's do out a sample group phase:

Group A
Ireland
Australia
Samoa
Georgia
Namibia

Group B
New Zealand
Wales
Italy
Tonga
Japan

Group C
South Africa
France
Fiji
Canada
Russia

Group D
England
Argentina
Scotland
USA
Romania

Based on 2023 dates, the tournament would likely start on Friday September 15 (not set in stone of course, it could be played a week later) with the final on Sunday October 29th (which would be a perfect weekend for the final as it's a bank holiday in Ireland).

Here's a sample fixture list based loosely on previous tournaments:

1. Fri Sep 15: Ireland v Samoa - Lansdowne Road (opening match)
2. Sat Sep 16: Wales v Japan - Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork
3. Sat Sep 16: New Zealand v ltaly Casement Park, Belfast
4. Sat Sep 16: Australia v Namibia - Thomond Park, Limerick
5. Sat Sep 16: USA v Romania - Nowlan Park, Kilkenny
6. Sun Sep 17 England v Argentina - Croke Park, Dublin
7. Sun Sep 17: South Africa v Fiji - Pearse Stadium, Galway
8. Sun Sep 17: France v Canada - Ravenhill, Belfast
9. Tues Sep 19: Georgia v Samoa - Thomond Park
10. Wed Sep 20: Wales v Tonga - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
11. Wed Sep 20: Scotland v Romania - Murrayfield, Edinburgh
12. Thurs Sep 21: Canada v Russia - RDS, Dublin
13. Fri Sep 22: Ireland v Namibia - Croke Park, Dublin
14. Sat Sep 23: ltaly v Japan - Pearse Stadium, Galway
15. Sat Sep 23: South Africa v France - Lansdowne Road, Dublin
16. Sat Sep 23: England v USA - Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork
17. Sun Sep24: Argentina v Scotland - Murrayfield, Edinburgh
18. Sun Sep 24: New Zealand v Tonga - Lansdowne Road, Dublin
19. Mon Sep 25 Australia v Georgia - Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney
20. Tues Sep 26: Fiji v Russia Nowlan Park, Kilkenny
21. Wed 27 Samoa v Namibia - Celtic Park, Derry
22. Thurs Sep 28: England v Romania Casement Park, Belfast
23. Fri Sep 29: South Africa v Canada Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney
24. Sat Sep 30 Ireland v Australia - Croke Park
25. Sat Sep 30: New Zealand v Japan - Thomond Park, Limerick
26. Sun Oct 1: Wales v ltaly - Lansdowne Road
27. Sun Oct 1:France v Russia Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork
28. Sun Oct 1: Scotland v USA, Ravenhill, Befast
29. Mon Oct 2: Argentina v Romania Celtic Park, Derry
30. Tues Oct 3: Fiji v Canada - Casement Parkl, Belfast
31. Tues October 3 Georgia v Namibia - RDS, Dublin
32. Wed Oct 4: Tonga Japan - Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork
33. Fri Oct 6: England v Scotland - Croke Park, Dublin
34. Sat Oct 7: Argentina v USA - Pearse Stadium, Galway
35. Sat Oct 7 Ireland v Georgia - Lansdowne Road, Dublin
36. Sat Oct 7: New Zealand v Wales - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
37. Sat Oct 7: South Africa v Russia Ravenhill, Belfast
38. Sun Oct 8: France v Fiji - Thomond Park Limerick
39. Sun Oct 8: ltaly v Tonga - RDS, Dublin
40. Sun Oct 8 Australia v Samoa - Casement Park, Belfast

Quarter-Finals:

Saturday October 14th
3: C1 France V D2 Argentina Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
1: A1 Ireland v B2 Wales Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Sunday October 15th
4: D1 England V C2 South Africa Murrayfield, Edinburgh
2: B1 New Zealand V A2 Australia Croke Park, Dublin

Semi-Finals
Saturday October 21st
W1 Ireland V W4 England Croke Park, Dublin
Sunday October 22nd
W2 New Zealand V W3 France Croke Park, Dublin

3rd place play-off:
Friday October 27th - Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Final:
Sunday October 29th - Croke Park, Dublin

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There are a few issues that have to be addressed.

i)That five of the 11 Irish stadiums would be in two cities. This is not ideal, but there is no way around it and any bid will have to live with this.

ii) The two highest capacity stadiums in Croke Park and Lansdowne Road are both in Dublin.

iii) In New Zealand 2011, the two largest stadiums (Eden Park Auckland and Westpac Stadium, Wellington) hosted all four quarter finals between them. If all four quarter-finals were to be held in our two largest stadiums, that means Croke Park and Lansdowne Road. But hosting four quarter-finals in Dublin on one weekend would be chaos and cannot be done. At least one and likely two of the quarter-finals would have to be held in either Belfast and/or Cork if all four were to be held in Ireland. However, there has to be a question mark whether either the new Casement Park and/or the new Pairc Ui Chaoimh would be of the standard required to host a quarter-final.

By far the most likely way out of this, and what would almost certainly happen, is that at least one of the quarter-finals will be in Cardiff and/or Edinburgh.

iv) Croke Park will have to be "free" for at least two weeks before the tournament. In a normal year the All-Ireland football final would be on September 17th or 24th (it has alternated between the third and fourth Sundays over the last two decades). If the RWC started on September 15th, that would mean the very latest a match could be played at Croke Park would be Sunday September 3rd. Allowing for a replay in either the football or hurling final, you'd realistically need to push the football final forward to Sunday August 26th, in the event of the World Cup starting on September 15th.

v) The timeframe for the Rugby World Cup is the peak season for the latter stages of the county club championships. Arrangements re fixtures would have to be worked out. I don't see this presenting a major problem, though.

Seven of the stadiums I've listed as part of the bid are GAA stadiums. The impact on the respective county championships could be minimised in most cases by using secondary county grounds .

Instead of Pearse Stadium, Tuam, Athenry and Ballinasloe could be used for the Galway championships.

Austin Stack Park in Tralee and Pairc Ui Rinn in Cork could be used instead of Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney and Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Derry's new ground at Owenbeg could be used in place of Celtic Park.

Antrim and Kilkenny would find it a bit harder to find replacement venues for Casement Park and Nowlan Park but those grounds would be ready to go again for GAA action by mid October at the latest.

vi) One other thing that would have to be accommodated is Ireland's qualifying games for Euro 2024. September and October 2023 will be key dates for these matches and Ireland would normally be expected to have at least one home match, and more likely two, between the early September and mid-October dates. This poses a scheduling problem. Could Ireland host an early September qualifier given that the Rugby World Cup would start on September 15th? Doubtful. And a home match on the mid-October date would certainly be ruled out if Lansdowne Road was to host a quarter-final.

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Breakdown of matches by venue:

Croke Park - 8
Sun Sep 17 England v Argentina
Fri Sep 22: Ireland v Namibia
Sat Sep 30 Ireland v Australia
Fri Oct 6: England v Scotland
1 quarter-final
2 semi-finals
The final

Lansdowne Road - 7
Fri Sep 15: Ireland v Samoa
Sat Sep 23: South Africa v France
Sun Sep 24: New Zealand v Tonga
Sun Oct 1: Wales v ltaly
Sat Oct 7: Ireland v Georgia
1 quarter-final
3rd/4th place play-off

Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork - 4
Sat Sep 16: Wales v Japan
Sat Sep 23: England v USA
Sun Oct 1: France v Russia
Wed Oct 4: Tonga v Japan

Thomond Park, Limerick - 4
Sat Sep 16: Australia v Namibia
Tue Sep 19: Georgia v Samoa
Sat Sep 30: New Zealand v Japan
Sun Oct 8: France v Fiji

Casement Park, Belfast - 4
Sat Sep 16: New Zealand v ltaly
Thurs Sep 28: England v Romania
Tues Oct 3: Fiji v Canada
Sun Oct 8 Australia v Samoa

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff -3
Wed Sep 20: Wales v Tonga
Sat Oct 7: New Zealand v Wales
1 quarter-final

Murrayfield, Edinburgh - 3
Wed Sep 20: Scotland v Romania
Sun Sep24: Argentina v Scotland
1 quarter-final

RDS, Dublin - 3
Thurs Sep 21: Canada v Russia
Tues October 3 Georgia v Namibia
Sun Oct 8: ltaly v Tonga

Ravenhill, Belfast - 3
Sun Sep 17: France v Canada
Sun Oct 1: Scotland v USA
Sat Oct 7: South Africa v Russia

Pearse Stadium Galway - 3
Sun Sep 17: South Africa v Fiji
Sat Sep 23: ltaly v Japan
Sat Oct 7: Argentina v USA

Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney - 2
Mon Sep 25: Australia - Georgia
Fri Sep 29: South Africa v Canada

Nowlan Park, Kilkenny - 2
Sat Sep 16: USA v Romania
Tues Sep 26: Fiji v Russia

Celtic Park, Derry - 2
Wed 27 Samoa v Namibia
Mon Oct 2: Argentina v Romania

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