Host of rugby World Cup 2023 to be announced today

World Rugby, will today announce the successful nation to host the games showpiece World Cup event in 2023.

Ireland's bid was rated as the weakest of the three nation's in contention by World Rugby's technical review group whose findings were released last month.

Its report said South Africa was its preferred candidate over both France and Ireland, the other two nations in contention for the hosting rights.

The findings were disputed by French federation president Bernard Laporte, and his Irish counterpart Philip Browne who called them "nonsense".

The report was based on an evaluation by the Rugby World Cup Board that scored the bids on a range of criteria, including infrastructure and financial commitments.

In relation to Ireland’s bid, the report cited a number of stadia requiring work, adding that represented "a higher risk than venues already at word class standard".