05 February 2009

The South African Rugby Union's bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup in South Africa got a major boost following meetings with the government on Tuesday.

A joint delegation from SARU and the International Rugby Board (IRB) met sports minister Mr Makhenkesi Stofile and deputy minister Mr Gert Oosthuizen in Cape Town as part of an information-sharing session. The IRB delegation included president Mr Bernard Lapasset and chief executive Mike Miller. SARU were represented by president Mr Oregan Hoskins, Mr Mark Alexander (deputy president) and Mr Rautie Rautenbach (vice president).

SARU is bidding to host either the 2015 or the 2019 Rugby World Cups and is seeking government support for the bid. Interested unions will make their presentations to the IRB in May and a decision on the hosting nations for both tournaments will be announced on July 28, 2009.

"We were delighted with the meeting and very pleased with the government's expression of support for the South African Rugby union's bid," said Mr Lapasset. "A tournament of this size - the third-largest sporting event in the world - is not possible without a close partnership between the government and the rugby union and we were impressed with the enthusiasm and the support the government offered."

The IRB delegation shared research on the enormous economic impact of hosting a Rugby World Cup - estimated to be worth as much as R28bn - as well as the importance of the government and rugby joining hands in the bidding and hosting process.

"The meeting surpassed my expectations and I was very heartened by the minister's attitude," said Mr Oregan Hoskins. "His attitude augurs very well for us and I left the meeting feeling that this was a very important moment for our bid.

"The minister stressed that the infrastructure will be in place at the stadiums and across the country and that, as South Africa is a rugby-mad country, that they would be delighted and honoured to host the World Cup.

"It would be a significant moment to host the tournament on the 20th anniversary of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, an event which did so much to assist in the growth of nation-building in the country."

Source: sarugby.co.za

The match schedule for the Rugby World Cup 2011 was announced on Thursday with thirteen venues across New Zealand chosen.

Rugby New Zealand (RNZ) 2011 CEO Martin Snedden confirmed the Tournament will kick off at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday 9 September 2011 when New Zealand will play Tonga."The two-day break after the Bronze Final allows us to better prepare for the Final on Sunday, and should also ensure a huge festival night for Auckland on Saturday".

Auckland (Eden Park), Wellington and Christchurch have been allocated five pool matches each while North Shore, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Dunedin will each host three matches. Whangarei, Nelson, Palmerston North, Napier and Invercargill will host two matches.

"Our philosophy all along has been a Stadium of Four Million. We believe today's announcement, building on the knock-out decisions announced last year, takes us further towards the fulfillment of that promise" said Mr Snedden.

"RNZ has worked very closely with Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) over the past few months to bring this to a reality. Our collective view is that the Match Schedule represents the best balance between ensuring a successful Tournament in New Zealand while also recognising its global standing".

The quarter-final match-ups were also confirmed, with the top two teams in Pool A (featuring currently qualified teams New Zealand, France and Tonga) and Pool B (featuring Argentina, England and Scotland) playing off in Christchurch. Wellington will host quarter-finals featuring the winners and runners-up from Pool C (featuring Australia, Ireland and Italy) and Pool D (featuring South Africa, Wales and Fiji).

In addition, the dates for the final weekend, which coincides with Labour Day, were also confirmed with the Bronze Final to take place on Friday October 21 at Eden Park, followed by the Final on Sunday October 23 at the same venue.

Representatives from all 11 regions which submitted match hosting proposals were in attendance at Thursday's announcement.

The schedule features a blockbuster opening weekend which will see pool heavyweights Argentina take on England in Christchurch, and South Africa play Wales in Wellington as well as communities in Invercargill, New Plymouth, Rotorua and North Shore getting their first taste of Rugby World Cup action. The second and third weekends will feature the Australia v Ireland clash and New Zealand v France respectively. The pool stage wraps up with deciders taking place across all 4 pools.

"Today marks the culmination of a 22 month process that has involved regions from every part of New Zealand" said Mr Snedden.

"We are pleased that all 11 regions will have the opportunity to host matches. Given that a total of 16 venues were proposed, we do appreciate that there will be disappointment among those who have missed out.

"The RWC 2011 Regional Coordination groups, of which there are 22 around New Zealand, will now evolve from having an initial focus on bidding for hosting rights into regional core tournament and festival delivery agents.

"In many respects, today is a special day for the successful regions, and they deserve to be congratulated for the time and effort and unprecedented level of co-operation that has been evident throughout this process".

Speaking at the announcement in Auckland, RWCL Managing Director Mike Miller said, "While the number of match venues is more than Australia 2003 and France 2007 it reflects the Organising Committee's desire to take the tournament to the entire nation under its call to arms of a Stadium of Four Million philosophy. RWCL fully supports this and the desire to ensure the Tournament has a unique look and feel that fits in with the cultural background of the nation."

Late kick-offs in local time have been a talking point, with some matches of the knock-out stage kicking off as late as 21.00 local time in order to reach out to the widest television audience.

Snedden confirmed the contentious issue of kick-offs had only been finalised on Thursday, a couple of hours before the official match schedule was released.

Snedden said consideration needed to be given to audiences on the other side of the world.

"This is not just New Zealand's tournament. This is a tournament that belongs to the international rugby community," said Snedden.

The semif-inals and final, all to be played at Eden Park, will be played at 21.00.

The bronze medal match will be at 20.30.

Snedden said pool matches played in the weekend would start no later than 20.30 while weekday pool matches would start no later than 19.30.

Source + Pic: planetrugby.com