Ireland on Friday joined Scotland in withdrawing its bid to be considered as a joint host of the 2015 World Cup, citing the current global economic crisis.

Ireland had expressed its interest in a joint bid with England, Scotland and Wales but the four unions have been unable to agree on a share-out of revenues, so the Irish Rugby Football Union has opted to pull out.

"The current economic situation and the financial commitment to host a Rugby World Cup tournament was such that we felt a joint bid with all four unions including Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales would be the only viable format that Irish Rugby could be part of," IRFU Chief Executive Philip Browne said.

"We examined in detail the possibility of other bid options alongside the positive spin-offs of hosting the tournament, but these did not satisfy all of the essential criteria for Irish rugby to remain involved in the process.

"We are obviously disappointed at the outcome as I believe the Irish rugby and wider sporting public would have given tremendous support to the tournament."

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