In just under two months on November 15th, we will discover whether the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be coming to Ireland.
It's been a bid that has been making for more than two years and now it's France and South Africa who stand in the way.
Today was an important milestone in the bid process for the three remaining countries in the running, with final bid presentations made at a World Rugby council meeting at Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington.
Ireland is favourite with many of the bookies and made a very good presentation according to reports but that of course is no guarantee.
Former Ireland head coach Eddie O'Sullivan and The Irish Times' Gavin Cummiskey joined us to discuss the latest stage in the bid and Eddie also gave his thoughts on Ireland's rivals, especially the French bid.
"I think it's a slightly different process than before. I mean there was a lot of horse trading over the years and a few stinks back in the day," he said of the old way of bid processes.
"Consultants have been hired to view all the bids and drill down into something and that's who I believe we were meeting today. It wasn't World Rugby, it was those consultants who will look at all the bids, weigh them up, see which is the most beneficial to World Rugby and not to Ireland or not to France or not to South Africa. And then they will make a recommendation to World Rugby. Now, World Rugby don't have to accept it and that's where you might feel there might be some wriggle room. But it's going to be hard for these delegates to actually vote against the recommendation of the consultants they hired to given them a recommendation and I think that's good actually because I think it's a very transparent process - more transparent than it's ever been."
Pictured (L-R) Shane Ross TD (Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport), David Sterling, Philip Browne (Chief Executive IRFU), An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Dick Spring (Ireland 2023 Bid Chairman), Brian O'Driscoll and Kieran McLoughlin (Worldwide President and CEO of the Ireland Funds) ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
With Ireland putting forward a strong bid, Eddie is optimistic in that regard. But France, who have hosted the tournament before, also appear to be in a strong position.
"The crew that worry me are France," he said, before touching on the skills of former France head coach and ex-French Secretary of State for Sport Bernard Laporte.
"Laporte would worry me because he's a very able guy. He gets painted as a bit of a mad scientist sometimes but he was a hugely successful as a French coach and he was my nemesis as a French coach. We found it very hard to beat France when he was there. He then went into Toulon and delivered them as the best team in Europe, even though he had a lot of money to do it.
"He's already been in politics. He went toe to toe with Serge Blanco for the presidency of the French Federation and he literally visited every village and rugby club in France to get that done. I think he really wants this [World Cup in France] because he saw his opportunity to win the World Cup in '07 in France and obviously they beat the All Blacks and then they lost to England and he's now coming back and saying, 'I'll be president in 2023 and we'll win the World Cup when I'm president'. So I think he's got his laser sights on this and he's a very smart guy."
He added that while he's not as worried about South Africa, "France are dangerous for us and if you talk to people who've been involved they're worried about France".
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
