I'd imagine the RDS would be unused when there stadiums in the city with twice and three times the capacity (of the redeveloped RDS), and plenty bigger all round the country. Also the semis and final would likely all be in Croke Park (as per 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 WCs where the lead stadium held all these matches to maximise attendance and revenue), with Croker, Lansdowne, Cork and Belfast hosting a quarter final each, The 3rd place playoff might be in Lansdowne too or it could go to Belfast in the interests of making it truly cross-border.

I think I remember reading something about the new 45,000 seater Páirc Uí Chaoimh being used in the 2023.
The IRB have minimum seating requirements for the QF's, SF's and Final.
The development of Cork would allow for QF's in Limerick, Belfast, RDS and one other with SF's in PUC and the Aviva and the final in Croke Park.

Why armagh? Did you play our first international there or something?

Regards seatting, there were lots of standing in the NZ world cup. And think I remember seeing some in France. However, yeah with the GAA stadium you would be needing at least 75% seatting I would expect. Plenty of time left to do up the grounds though.

Seats may be a imperative demand of the IRB ; that's why I said this...

connachta wrote: Sorry to be a wee bit egoistic for ourselves, but don't you think it's the perfect occasion to redevelop a 15-20 000 seat in Connacht, before talking about Donegal?

Of course it is, but there has to more counties including in hosting games than just the big cities.

*Also, off topic, but any redevelopment of the Sportsground needs to keep a standing section, and not behind the goals. Sitting at games is way less fun than standing

Sorry to be a wee bit egoistic for ourselves, but don't you think it's the perfect occasion to redevelop a 15-20 000 seats stadium in Connacht, before talking about Donegal?
And can we do this in the Sportsground? (tier-2 and who knows, tier-3...)

RogueXV wrote: Presumably the GAA have signed off on this?

Yeah, I imagine so. Should get an idea of which stadiums they plan to upgrade and use tomorrow.
I really hope they can spread it around the country as much as possible.

Even if it's a game between Tonga and Romania, places like Donegal or Wexford deserve to host something

Presumably the GAA have signed off on this?

www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/3077...2023-rugby-world-cup

An all-Ireland bid to stage the 2023 Rugby World Cup is to be officially unveiled on Friday.

Officials from the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) will join representatives from the Northern Ireland Executive and Irish government to outline their ambition to jointly host the sport's showpiece event.

Both administrations have been assessing the feasibility of a bid for the last 10 months and it is understood an all-Ireland bid will be given the go ahead at an event in Armagh on Friday morning.

As well as the traditional rugby stadiums such as the Aviva in Dublin and the Kingspan at Ravenhill in Belfast, a 2023 World Cup in Ireland would also hope to utilise several Gaelic football venues, including the 82,300 capacity Croke Park in Dublin.

The Irish rugby team played their home matches in Croke Park between 2007 and 2010 while the Aviva stadium was being built on the site of the old Lansdowne Road ground.

Next year's Rugby World Cup will be hosted by England with Japan hosting the event in 2019.

In May, current Irish coach Joe Schmidt said an all-Ireland Rugby World Cup could replicate the success of his native New Zealand in its staging of the 2011 tournament.

"You have got the same population and the same kind of energy around sporting occasions and I think you have got the stadia," he said.