Rugby World Cup hosts
Shortly after the inaugural Women's Rugby World Cup was held, the 1991 Rugby World Cup was jointly hosted by the Five Nations Championship countries (England, Ireland, Wales, France and Scotland), with games played all over these five European nations.
Pool D, of which France were a part, saw games played in Agen, Bayonne, Béziers Brive, Grenoble, and Toulouse.
Originally scheduled to be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands but cancelled only weeks before, the second Women's Rugby World Cup was hosted by Scotland and once again, there were 12 nations.
The IRB broke new ground by awarding the tournament to an African nation, making it the first major sporting event ever held on the continent.
In one of the most emotional moments in sports history, President Nelson Mandela wore a Springbok jersey and matching baseball cap when presenting the trophy to the team's Afrikaner captain Francois Pienaar.
The 1999 World Cup was hosted by Wales with some matches spread across Scotland, England, Ireland and France.
This was the second Women's Rugby World Cup to be fully sanctioned by the International Rugby Board and all six teams from the Women's Six Nations Championship England, Scotland, Wales, France, Ireland and Italy competed for the first time The final was staged at Barcelona.
The 2003 World Cup saw matches played in eleven stadia in ten Australian cities.
[12] The French bid won with 18 out of 21 votes, with IRB Chairman Syd Millar stating that "The council was overwhelmingly of the view that the structure should remain as it is.
[12] It was also announced that ten French cities would be hosting games, with the final at the Stade de France.
[12] The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was played in England for the first time and the third British host nation to do so, following the previous two tournaments that were held Wales in 1991 and Scotland in 1994 respectively.
The bidding occurred in November 2005, the first time that hosting rights had been awarded to a nation six years in advance.
[citation needed] There were also concerns about New Zealand's infrastructure, however an IRB fact-finding mission impressed the executives.[who?
][citation needed] South Africa had initially explored the possibility of inviting other African countries to stage some matches,[14] and South Africa had also discussed with Argentina the possibility of hosting some matches in Buenos Aires.
Japan responded critically to the IRB's decision to award the 2011 World Cup to New Zealand, with the Japanese RFU chief Yoshiro Mori declaring: "The established nations pass the ball around their friends .
"[16] Despite not winning the right to host the 2011 World Cup, Japan Rugby officials remained optimistic about future opportunities.
and we believe that dispersing rugby fever in the biggest continent on the planet will help the IRB in their mission of globalizing the game we all love.
[18] A record ten unions indicated formal interest in hosting the 2015 and/or the 2019 events: Australia, England, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Russia, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.
[24] The United States, Argentina, and Italy had also expressed interest in hosting,[25][26][27][28][23] but none of the three countries submitted a formal bid.
On 15 November 2017, it was announced that France had beaten rivals Ireland and South Africa, in its successful bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
