Lomu, who once made a brief comeback with the Marseille-Vitrolles club, died two years ago and the tenuous link smacked of opportunism by a bid that was presented without the presence, in person or by video, of French president Emmanuel Macron.

That absence has been played up in the context of alleged interference on the part of the French union’s president Bernard Laporte in the reduction of a fine and punishment to the Montpellier club for improper fan banners.

The Top 14 club is owned by Mohed Altrad, who has had business links with Laporte, and the fallout has already resulted in the resignation of a number of members of the appeals board. Not good optics, clearly.

So, it was sports minister Laura Flessel representing the government in London.

“There was no video,” she said. “President Macron has a very busy schedule and he was unable to be with us today. The French government is very proud to support this bid. It is a wonderful bid… We will roll up our sleeves and do the work if we win it.”

All three bidders made similar soundings.

Government backing? No problem? But there are other areas besides where the Irish bid differs from the other two. For a start, both France and South Africa have hosted a conveyor belt of major sporting events.

Both boast more stadia of considerably larger capacities, too, and they have sought to make the most of their mightier financial muscle by guaranteeing more than the baseline £135m tournament fee to World Rugby.

“This World Cup, we’ve got to have it, at any price.”

The French played down security fears and concerns that the 2024 Olympics in Paris would overshadow the rugby gathering while bigging up legacy benefits from money generated which would lead to a growth in player and coach numbers.

Cyril Ramaphosa did most of the talking for South Africa.

The deputy president will be aware that their bid is said to be lagging in a distant third but they talked a good, if vague, game here. Record profit. Government guarantees. A £360m budget. World-class stadia. Legacy. Track record.

As with the French, it was much shorter on specifics than the Irish had been and they too had to face concerns from World Rugby and the media over the country’s criminal rate and even the stability of the democracy itself.

It was also announced earlier this year that the city of Durban was giving up the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games due to what sports minister Fikile Mbalula had claimed were financial restraints.

Ramaphosa remained on message through it all, harking yet again back to the country’s first staging of a Rugby World Cup, 22 years ago, when South Africa was only just emerging from the darkness of the apartheid years. “If we were ready in 1995 we are more than ready now,” he said.