Tours Announced As Ireland Team Base For RWC23
Ireland face Australia in the Bank of Ireland Nations Series this Saturday. (c) Billy Stickland/INPHO
Ireland’s team base for the pool stages of Rugby World Cup 2023 has been confirmed as Tours – one of the largest cities in the Centre-Val de Loire.
Tours will be the home of the Ireland squad as they prepare ahead of their Pool B games against Romania, Tonga, South Africa and Scotland in September and October 2023. The model for RWC23 sees each team based in one central training location and then travelling to the match day cities – in Ireland’s case, Bordeaux (Romania), Nantes (Tonga) and Paris (South Africa & Scotland).
A delegation from the Ireland team management visited Tours in January early this year and were impressed the the professionalism of their bid and the enthusiasm of local officials and community groups in supporting the Ireland squad’s Rugby World Cup campaign.
The IRFU and Ireland Team management would like to thank the Mayor of Tours Emmanuel Denis and his team, Francois Bonneau – chairman Loire Valley Area, Frederic Augis – chairman Tours Metropolis, Julien Collette – managing director France 2023, Rodolphe Esteve – chairman Loire Valley Rugby League, Benoit Sebillet – Chairman UST Rugby Club and Bertrand Bougeault – chairman Tours Rugby 2023.