Europe 1 with AFP 19:40 p.m., March 27, 2023

While the France is going through a period of social conflict due to pension reform, the organizers of the Rugby World Cup in France hope that an escape route will be found by then. However, the French rugby authorities are not worried at the moment.

Jacques Rivoal, president of the organizing committee of the Rugby World Cup 2023, said Monday he hoped that the social climate around the pension reform would have "calmed down" by the start of the competition, which will take place in France from September 8 to October 28. "I am not a soothsayer, but we can hope that by September-October the situation will have calmed down and settled," he said on the sidelines of the signing of a convention in Toulouse, future base camp of the selection of Japan.

"We are preparing for a World Cup, we have to take into account our environment, but we are confident that people will come together to celebrate for two months," he added. Jacques Rivoal said that his teams were working "very closely with the services of the State" in terms of security and mobility, without being overly alarmed.

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"Not very worried"

"We are not very worried, especially since in rugby, there has not been a single match with excesses," he said. "There is a very special culture around rugby matches." With just over five months to go before the opening match of the competition between France and New Zealand, the organization is on schedule, according to the leader. "We haven't fallen behind," he said. "We had a meeting recently with World Rugby and we were told that we were even rather ahead of what had happened, for example, in Japan four years ago.

According to Jacques Rivoal, the page Claude Atcher, former general manager landed in the autumn for his brutal management methods, is also now turned within the organizing committee. "All these cases, these stories, it's ancient history for us," the president said. "50% of the workforce has been hired since the start of the 2022 school year. We don't look too far behind or to the side, we are focused on the future."