France is toasting the announcement that it will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup after being named the surprise winner of a secret World Rugby council ballot in London on Wednesday.

The bid beat off competition from the preferred hosts, South Africa – who play France in Paris on Saturday – and Ireland, having received the nomination after a second round of voting was required.

Quick guide Rugby World Cup hosts Show Hide 1987 (New Zealand) Final: Eden Park, Auckland Winners: New Zealand 1991 (England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France) Final: Twickenham, London Winners: Australia 1995 (South Africa) Final: Ellis Park, Johannesburg Winners: South Africa 1999 (Wales) Final: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Winners: Australia 2003 (Australia) Final: Stadium Australia, Sydney Winners: England 2007 (France) Final: Stade de France, Paris Winners: South Africa 2011 (New Zealand) Final: Eden Park, Auckland Winners: New Zealand 2015 (England) Final: Twickenham, London Winners: New Zealand 2019 (Japan) Final: International Stadium, Yokohama 2023 (France)

Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/X90073

The World Rugby chairman, Bill Beaumont, was forced to defend the governing body after the decision went against an independent evaluation report at the end of last month which recommended South Africa be nominated as hosts.

“A humiliation for me? I don’t think so. I don’t think that at all,” Beaumont told a media conference. “There’s always got to be one recommendation in the evaluation process and that was South Africa.

“If you look, there wasn’t a great deal between France and South Africa in the evaluation report. It was very close. We feel the process has been absolutely transparent. Everyone’s been able to see how the scoring was.”

It was the first time that World Rugby had commissioned and made public such a report and there was no precedent as to whether council members would rubber-stamp South Africa as the 2023 host, or vote according to other criteria. The members were not bound by the outcome of the technical report but it will be of great embarrassment to World Rugby that France has prevailed considering this process was adopted in the interests of transparency.

None of the three teams were allowed to change the details or their bid or offer inducements to council members but there were reports of the very horse-trading and lobbying that the process was designed to prevent in the run-up to the vote.

In the first round of voting, France were given 18 votes, two short of the 20 majority required, with South Africa receiving 13 and Ireland 8. In round two, France reached 24 votes to secure victory, with South Africa on 15.

South African insiders had feared the worst on the eve of the vote having declined to lobby for support. In the wake of the announcement, John Smit, who lifted the World Cup for the Springboks in 2007, posted on Twitter: “That is devastating news, the joys of a secret ballot.”

South Africa Rugby expressed disappointment over the decision and said the process became “opaque” following the independent report.

SA Rugby chief executive, Jurie Roux, said: “World Rugby ran exhaustive, transparent process for 15 months to identify best host nation, only for the process to go entirely opaque for past two weeks. The view of the experts and World Rugby’s leadership was overturned by World Rugby council members.”

SA Rugby president, Mark Alexander, said: “We did everything in our power to bring the tournament to South Africa. We are bitterly disappointed at this decision and would like to apologise to the people and government of South Africa for raising their hopes. It is sad that this is the first time that the World Rugby council votes against the recommendation of their board and that raises questions for them.”

Ireland and France had gone on an offensive following the publication of World Rugby’s technical report on 31 October. The French federation’s president, Bernard Laporte, who described the report as “nonsense”, led a last-minute campaign to charm voters off the back of France’s financial strength.

The chief executive of the Ireland union, Phillip Browne, went as far as to write a letter to World Rugby outlining his grievances. It was targeted at council members and pointed out that as all three bids were judged to be excellent, ignoring the consultants’ recommendation was hardly a giant leap. So it proved, although Ireland, as in the technical report, finished third of three candidates. In the immediate aftermath of the result, Irish Rugby tweeted: “Congratulations #France2023. Bonne chance.”

Browne later thanked those who had supported their bid and stated: “For almost six years we have focused passionately on bringing a Rugby World Cup to Ireland in 2023. In that time we developed a world-class proposition which reflected positively on Ireland and saw us formally acknowledged as a destination well capable of hosting a superb Rugby World Cup.

It is not to be. Our race is now run. Today belongs to France. They have our warmest congratulations and very best wishes for a magnificent Rugby World Cup in 2023.”

World Rugby (@WorldRugby) Congratulations to France who have been awarded Rugby World Cup 2023 following World Rugby Council's vote #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/8enJhanPmW