“They made a bags of it.”

Ireland’s Rugby World Cup 2023 bid team has been labelled as a bunch of “amateurs” today by outspoken Fianna Fáil Senator Terry Leyden.

France were names as hosts for the 2023 showpiece event, with Ireland failing to make it to the second round of voting, having secured just 8 votes in the first round, with three of those coming from England.

During Order of Business in the Seanad this afternoon, Senator Leyden said:

“There is no point in crying over spilt milk at this stage as far as the Rugby World Cup is concerned because really, quite frankly, they made a bags of it.

“Call a spade a spade. They hadn’t the ability to negotiate. The Taoiseach wasn’t able to negotiate. Minister Ross was more concerned about North Korea and I don’t think they had a vote. Had they?”

Fine Gael Senator Neale Richmond labelled his comments as “ridiculious” and told him to stick to what he knows. Leyden caused huge controversy last week when he claimed that rugby was bad for women’s “health and well-being”.

Leyden went to to say that he wouldn’t have lost the Scottish or Welsh vote and that the Irish Rugby World Cup bid team “wouldn’t negotiate a piss up in a brewery”

“I’ll you one thing, when we were in power we could negotiate for world events. I wouldn’t lose our Scottish connections, I wouldn’t lose the Scottish vote or I wouldn’t lose the Welsh vote.”

“Where were they going? I mean, what kind of amateurs do you send out any more. Sure they wouldn’t negotiate a piss-up in a brewery for God’s sake. Give me a break.”