Sunday 3 November 2019 15:20, UK
World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont has hailed Japan 2019 as "probably the greatest" Rugby World Cup in history.
The sport's first world cup in Asia ended with South Africa clinching the title for a record-equalling third time with a 32-12 victory against England in Saturday's showpiece in Yokohama.
"Japan 2019 will be remembered as probably the greatest Rugby World Cup," said Beaumont.
"It has certainly been the most ground-breaking in terms of bringing the game to new audiences and attracting new fans to the sport.
"It has been amazing what we've experienced over the last six weeks, culminating in an outstanding final."
France will host the next staging in 2023, and Beaumont confirmed that a dual bidding process will begin late next year for the 2027 and 2031 editions.
After the success of Japan's staging, the door could be open for a bid from the United States to host the event for the first time.
"The dual selection process will be launched in November 2020 and will enable World Rugby to select an optimal combination of hosts, rather like what we've achieved here," the former Rugby Football Union chairman added.
"It will also give successful candidates longer preparation time to prepare and look at the costs and management of delivering tournaments."
Hosts Japan reached the knockout stages for the first time during the six-week tournament, beating Ireland and Scotland in the pool phase, which has led to calls for them to be brought into the Rugby Championship or the Six Nations.
"There has been much talk about the future of the Brave Blossoms (Japan)," Beaumont said.
"We will do everything in our power to support them and all emerging teams to get regular access to high-level competitions.
"Japan will have matches against England and Ireland in the next 12 months.
"We are looking at all our options. There is certainly an improvement in the Tier Two fixtures.
"I think there will be lots of movement, certainly within the next 12-18 months, around fixtures. The international calendar is something that is an evolving thing."
World Rugby chiefs have also not ruled out the possibility of an expansion of the World Cup from 20 to 24 teams, although if that does happen, it would not be until 2027 at the earliest.
World Rugby's chief operating officer Alan Gilpin said: "There are a number of questions that come from moving to 24 teams.
"How do we get the next four teams competitive? There are challenges there, and we are working on the high-performance programmes across a number of unions.
"The tournament is six weeks long, it is a big window in the international rugby calendar, and we don't want to exceed that window. Going beyond six weeks would be challenging.
"It would not be for 2023, more the 2027 and 2031 process."
