A $700 million stadium on Auckland's waterfront is believed to be the Government's choice for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The Cabinet will decide next week on the premier venue for the cup, and seems likely to turn its back on rugby's traditional home at Eden Park.

The Herald has learned from three sources that a report going to the Cabinet on Monday favours a waterfront stadium, partly over Bledisloe Wharf and partly over water towards Marsden Wharf, a short walk from the bottom of Queen St.

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One source said the stadium could be based on the 66,000-seat Allianz Stadium in Munich, Germany, which is wrapped in translucent material that can be illuminated in different colours. The 50m stadium was built for this year's soccer World Cup.

Eden Park Development Committee chairman Rob Fisher said today that if Auckland Rugby moves to the new stadium there would be no use for Eden Park, though it would keep going until 2011.

He said Auckland cricket would need to move to a new ground and Eden Park would probably file for mixed-use zoning, demolishing the ground and setting up commercial and residential buildings.

Fisher is also concerned the venue would not be built in time for the World Cup. (Listen to Rob Fisher)

North Harbour Stadium Chief Executive Brendon O'Connor said any waterfront plan would be horrendously expensive.

He is also worried about the economic viability of a stadium in that location, believing North Harbour could be beefed up to become a national stadium for between 30 per cent and 35 per cent of the cost and says it is just 15 minutes from Auckland's CBD.

Prime Minister Helen Clark and Rugby World Cup Minister Trevor Mallard strongly support a waterfront stadium to showcase New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup and to aid Auckland's goal of becoming a world-class city.

There is also strong public backing for a waterfront stadium. More than two-thirds of nearly 200 people who sent emails to the Herald in one day in September said Eden Park's day had passed and a new waterfront stadium would be a showcase for the city and the nation.

Last month, Mr Mallard expanded work, led by Ministry of Economic Development officials, on waterfront options to satisfy concerns about the ability to build a stadium from scratch on the waterfront and address the effect on Ports of Auckland's container operations.

A new stadium would require 6.2ha and would cut into the 14ha Bledisloe Wharf, the third busiest container terminal in the country, which handled 220,000 containers last year. The project would involve driving hundreds of piles through reclaimed land over the wharf and seabed.