The tournament may not be for another eight years but the road to the Rugby World Cup in 2023 is well under way.
After Ireland officially announced their bid, the USA have joined them as the only two countries to have officially lodged their bids to World Rugby. France, Italy, and South Africa are expected to do the same in the coming weeks as each have publicly announced their intentions without having officially lodged their bid.
There's still no word from Argentina on their intentions after they signalled in 2013 and 2014 that they were very interested in bidding, but were not at last week's meeting.
From an Irish point of view, Ireland's bid requires the most amount of stadium redevelopment compared to the other countries. Should Ireland not win the bid, a USA tournament could be a nice consolation for the vast amount of Irish expats in the country, while the thinking is that a World Cup in America could increase interest in the sport to a huge new market, especially compared to the already established markets in Ireland, France, Italy and South Africa.
