World Rugby officials have landed in Dublin and will visit the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park as part of their review of Ireland's bid to host to 2023 World Cup.
A technical group will meet Ireland's Bid Oversight Board - which includes Brian O'Driscoll - and travel around the country for the next two days.
Ireland are up against South Africa and France in the race to host the tournament.
All set in @CrokePark for the @WorldRugby Technical Review Group visit #Ireland2023 pic.twitter.com/l9CBG4Yf8N
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 21, 2017
Croke Park, the Aviva, Nowlan Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Fitzgerald Stadium, Pearse Stadium, McHale Park, Casement Park, Thomond Park, the RDS, Kingspan Stadium and Celtic Park are the 12 potential venues currently on Ireland's list, but this will be reduced to eight or 10 for the tournament staging.
Last Novemner IRFU chairman Philip Browne spoke optmistically about the bid to bring the showpiece to these shores.
“We have a tremendous amount going for us,” he told RTÉ Radio 1..
"We have a great mix of stadia. We have the third-largest stadium in Europe in Croke Park, the Aviva Stadium, the new Casement Park, the re-developed Pairc Ui Chaoimh and we have that unique Irish spirit and joie de vivre which is going to make the whole experience for visiting fans, we believe, quite unique and different to any previous World Cup.
"We are also hoping to leverage the Irish diaspora, the 80 million that are so proud of their Irish heritage."
