Ireland should seize the moment

One of the best decisions World Rugby (formerly the IRB) has made in the women’s game has been to ensure the past two Women’s World Cups have been held in rugby-strong nations.

The exposure the game generated in London in 2010 was built upon and surpassed in Paris this summer and it is vital that 2017 offers an opportunity to go even further.

What do you need for that?

First you need a country which has a strong rugby following and one which has a track record for delivering excellent crowds for the game.

Second you need a country that has a non-rugby following population that is still likely to get behind a major tournament on its door-step – essentially a bandwagon following.

Third you of course need the right facilities and fourth it’s even better if you have a host country which has a team capable of winning the tournament.

Ireland ticks all of these boxes and more and right now it feels like the the right time for the IRFU to get on board.

It is rare that Ireland hosts major world leading tournaments – the country’s infrastructure often ruling it out of the running before it can even consider bidding -  but the Women’s World Cup would be a perfect fit.

To the first point. Though GAA dominates Ireland’s sporting communities, rugby has exploded in terms of both media coverage and general popularity.

That is mainly due to the success of the men’s game in Ireland, with Munster and Leinster’s European success added to the progress of the national side, capturing attention like never before over the past decade.

But the national women’s team has also done its fair share to grow interest. Ireland women winning the Six Nations changed the face of the women's game in Ireland  with support coming from far and wide and with heightened interest resulting in a massive surge of exposure.

Ireland’s overall World Cup efforts – and in particular their defeat of New Zealand – added to that and now Ireland are also funding a professional sevens squad. The timing really could not be better.

To the second point – being Irish myself I can safely vouch that there is no better country to get on board a popular bandwagon in the most positive way possible. If the tournament was hosted in the right venue,  I have no doubt that Ireland could match if not surpass the kinds of crowds experienced in Paris.

Facilities is also no problem for this size of a tournament – the University of Limerick matched with Thomond Park springs to mind though there are plenty of others and Ireland if they continue to progress will be World Cup contenders.

Of course there will be other contenders to host the event but Ireland are front runners now and they should grab the iniatiative with both hands and use the opportunity has a springboard for huge growth in their playing numbers. Women's rugby in Ireland still fights for prominence when it comes to the vastly more popular Gaelic Games but the lure of Olympic Rugby and even perhaps a chance to play at a home World Cup would give them a massive carrot.

England are also believed to potentially considering getting involved again having done such a brilliant job in 2010 and while I have no doubt they would be excellent hosts once more - surely it makes more sense to spread the tournament around - provided of course there is interest.

Where else? Some suggest New Zealand should consider bidding to help offer something of a needed boost for the XV game there following their disappointing World Cup. Could it improve on the French effort? It ticks plenty of boxes but to my knowledge the NZRU have not yet expressed an interest and there is the small matter of the Lions visiting in 2017.

Ireland have so they should seize the moment.