England prepare for world in Union

13 April 2012

England and France will be put on standby to stage the next World Cup unless the organisers avert a looming crisis over the planned promotion of the tournament in Australasia.

An alarming row between joint hosts Australia and New Zealand, is threatening to undermine the event and force the organisers, Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWC), to draw up emergency plans for a European alternative to run the third biggest global jamboree in sport behind its soccer counterpart and the Olympic Games.

The quarrel between the Unions who represent the Wallabies and the All Blacks is over the financial package of their joint operation to host the 20-nation finals on both sides of the Tasman. The knock-on effect of that dispute can be revealed today. The host agreement between the Southern Hemisphere neighbours and RWC has still to be signed, six months after it should have been. RWC announced in January that the deal would be signed and sealed ?by the end of March?.

The organisers had planned to announce the fixtures for the finals, based on dividing the 20 competing countries into five pools of four, during the Lions tour in June. Instead they were forced to postpone a news conference until further-notice. Since then, one version of the draw based on a 1-20 seeding system for the teams involved, calculated not on current form but the last World Cup, has leaked out to the obvious embarrassment of RWC. It puts England and South Africa in the same pool in Perth, one of several major centres earmarked to stage matches across Australia.

The greater problem for RWC is not who plays who but that the event goes ahead as planned. Their five-man directorate hold a board meeting in New Zealand later this month when they will give the hosts a last chance to resolve their wrangle or forfeit their right to run the show. Not surprisingly, they are running out of patience.

International Board chairman Vernon Pugh was unavailable for comment last night but another leading legislator confirmed the growing anxiety at the highest level. ?We?ve had problems over the host agreement before previous World Cups but not like this,? he said. ?What we have here is a very difficult situation which needs to be resolved very soon.?

Ironically, the RFU yesterday confirmed their intention to bid for the 2007 World Cup by holding matches at ten stadia throughout England. In addition to the obvious rugby venues, Twickenham, Leicester, Gloucester and Northampton, their prospective list includes Ashton Gate, Bristol, Gateshead athletics stadium, the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Old Trafford and Anfield. France will also be bidding.

?I am sure they could do a very good job but we think we can do a very good job, too,? RFU chief executive Francis Baron said. ?We have the resources to stage such an event on our own and we are doing preparatory work for our bid.?

The Six Nations have assured the RFU that England need not be concerned with another contingency plan, one drawn up to switch the Ireland match next month from Dublin to Paris should footand-mouth force a second postponement.

Despite the cancellation of the Republic?s National Ploughing championships following fresh outbreaks of the disease in the UK, the Irish Rugby Union has assured Twickenham that the match, rearranged from last March, will go ahead at Lansdowne Road as scheduled.

?They are 100 per cent certain that there will be no need for the contingency plan,? Terry Burwell, the RFU?s operations director, said. ?The mood is clearly different now and all three outstanding fixtures in the championship will be played as scheduled.?

Ireland go to Murrayfield and Cardiff with every chance of winning both and making their finale against England on October 20 a Grand Slam decider.

On the political front, the RFU?s new chairman, Graeme Cattermole, made his first policy statement yesterday, emphasising the need to reunite the English game.

Cattermole, who defeated former chairman Brian Baister in a straight contest at the Union?s annual meeting in July, said: ?There is no themorus. We need to promote a culture of better understanding.?

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England prepare for world in Union

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