Bernard Laporte is fronting the bid of France to host the Rugby World Cup of 2023. With Italy having pulled out of the running, now France finds themselves contending against South Africa and Ireland for the honor.

When asked about the rivals of France, Laporte knew he had a tough battle on his hands to bring the Rugby World Cup to France. “It is like a rugby game” he said. “You should see your strength and what could be best done by you rather looking at the opposition. Both Ireland and South Africa will make strong bids; we have to ensure that our bid remains stronger than both of them.”

The latest sports odds from the best bookmaker in UK – William Hill suggests that Ireland are currently the front-runners, but with France in a close second.

Laporte recently visited Edinburgh fishing for votes, choosing Egalite and Fraternite; he said how he will curry the support of Scottish. Laporte said “The very first aspect that will come into play will be the economy. So, to the World Rugby, the French bid will remain of the highest economic value.”

“Second aspect we have strength in is in the experience of holding international events, then we have that a lot and the third aspect will be the infrastructure, then here too we are strong as we upgraded everything before Euro 2016 last year. So, in all three areas we are good, as far as the infrastructure is concerned, then we will be spending more on facilities if get the opportunity for hosting the 2023 Rugby World.” He added.

One of the sweeteners that Laporte is using to try and get the Scottish voting executive on-side is a plan to work togethr to give fans an experience they will never forget. “The team will set up a ‘House of Scotland’ near to the location of Scotland’s team, anyone will be allowed her to come and learn about Scottish culture history and watch all the games of Scotland” he said.

“This will be built up in conjunction with the SRU and local rugby club. This will be done to further establish the links between French rugby community and the Scottish fans during the event.”