New Zealand Rugby Football Union chairman Murray McCaw is cautious about a move to include rugby in the Olympic Games.
Rugby last featured in the Olympics 76 years ago, in Paris, but the International Rugby Board and the International Olympic Committee have met in Sydney with a view to its reinstatement.
Logistical problems mean a return in Athens in 2004 is unlikely.
But IRB chairman Vernon Pugh said yesterday that the board was doing its best to get rugby back in the Games.
"The reception that we received from the IOC was judged to have been successful," he said.
Although rugby is unlikely to be included for Athens, countries competing for the 2008 Games appeared keen.
McCaw said the issue had not been discussed by the New Zealand union.
"Though popular in many countries, rugby doesn't have a profile in all nations," he said.
"Rugby in the Olympics would raise its profile as a significant international sport."
McCaw said it was not known whether sevens or 15-man rugby would be played.
Sevens proved a hit at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
McCaw said the short version allowed smaller rugby-playing countries to put in strong teams.
If the 15-man version was introduced, rugby might take a similar approach to soccer and run a colts-type tournament.
Qualifying matches would have to be played and the physical toll of those and the Games matches would probably prove too much for senior players in an already congested international schedule.
"The World Cup should be the pinnacle for rugby," McCaw said. "International rugby has to be the focus and the World Cup its peak.
"We can't also forget that the World Cup funds the growth of the game internationally and we can't undermine that."
At the 1924 Games in Paris, the United States beat favourites France in the rugby finals.
The upset result was marred by fights in the stands and a chorus of boos drowning out the US national anthem as the winners received their gold medals.
- NZPA
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