IRFU chief executive Philip Browne believes Ireland are "100% still in the race" to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup despite the publication of a review which recommended South Africa for the tournament.
A technical review group scored each of the bids from Ireland, South Africa and France on five criteria which consist of; finance and tournament guarantees; venues and host cities; tournament infrastructure; vision and concept, and tournament organisation and schedule.
We knew from day one we were offering a different type of tournament.
South Africa are now the favourites to be awarded the hosting duties, and a final decision will be made on 15 November when the World Rugby council convene to cast its vote.
Despite the setback, Browne was defiant and said Ireland can still pull it out of the bag.
"Obviously we're disappointed," he told RTÉ Sport.
"A huge amount of effort and hard work has been put into this bid. We certainly felt we were in with a good chance. When you strip it all away and take out the issue of the stadia, all three bids are very close indeed.
"This really is a two-stage process. This has just been the conclusion of a technical evaluation, which is somewhat binary in the way it approaches things.
"100% we're still in this race. It's a three-horse race. I see (French rugby president) Bernard Laporte has come out of the traps to say it's a two-horse race. It's not - it's a three-horse race. Our view would be that we still have a fighting chance here."
Greater uncertainty around stadium infrastructure saw Ireland's 2023 Rugby World Cup bid rated the weakest of the three competing bids by World Rugby's technical review group.
Browne disputed any suggestion Ireland's grounds aren't up to scratch, adding: "People need to understand what we were trying to put forward in terms of our stadium solution. Our stadium solution is not the big shiny new stadia on the outskirts of cities.
"It was more about stadia right in the heart of our rugby communities to produce an atmosphere, an unrivalled fan atmosphere, that really can't be achieved elsewhere.
"And also full stadia. We have stadia that are the right size in the right location top ensure every match is going to have a full capacity.
Chairman of Ireland's 2023 Bid Oversight Board Dick Spring had earlier echoed those sentiments.
Speaking on Today With Seán O'Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1, he said: "It’s going to be a very difficult fight but we’re still there and we now have to convince people that what we were offering was the best proposition from an overall tournament point of view.
"The number one takeaway is that they have stated very categorically that all three were very good bids and that all of the countries could host, and indeed can host, a successful tournament."
"We were offering a different type of tournament in different type of stadia, our stadia are smaller around the country but we were offering a different vision for a World Cup where there would be full stadia and obviously much better spectator participation."
"We knew from day one we were offering a different type of tournament. There was no way we would have the same type of stadia that France and South Africa have built for their soccer tournaments in the past 10 years but we have major stadia in terms of Croke Park, the Aviva Stadium and new stadia like Páirc Uí Chaoimh for example, so we had all that to offer."
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