Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill has lashed the International Rugby Board and lauded the New Zealand Rugby Union.
At a transtasman business lunch yesterday, he also said going it alone as this year's World Cup host, which resulted in New Zealand losing its sub-host status, was "unarguably the hardest decision" he had to make in his eight years in charge of Australian rugby.
O'Neill, who has been mooted as a replacement IRB chairman next year, said the international body had lacked the vision to promote the game on a global stage.
"I am fervently of the view that rugby has only just scratched the surface as a global game.
"We put our own propaganda out there saying that we are truly a global game, number two to soccer, but it disguises the fact we should be doing so much better.
"We can say that rugby is played in 128 countries in the world, but if you bore down a bit deeper the numbers are really quite thin in some of those countries."
This year's World Cup finals involve 20 nations.
He said he thought the IRB needed to employ a far more definitive and precise plan about turning rugby global, "not just in sticking to the closeted environs of the Northern Hemisphere's way of doing things, but taking a more aggressive approach to markets such as ... North America and Asia."
"We don't really have at the International Rugby Board a level of vision for where rugby should be in five years."
He acknowledged the Australian and New Zealand unions needed to do more in making the sport more relevant "from the bottom up" after the World Cup.
O'Neill, who had NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs and chief executive Chris Moller as guests, praised the efforts of the New Zealand union in restoring the relationship with Australia after the "fairly bumpy ride" over New Zealand losing its World Cup sub-hosting rights.
The New Zealand administration of the time was outmanoeuvred by O'Neill, who secured full hosting rights for Australia.
He said the decision was a business one in the end and "unavoidable."
The subsequent inquiry into the incident in New Zealand, which resulted in the union's board standing down and the resignations of chief executive David Rutherford and chairman Murray McCaw, was "corporate democracy working in a way that should be the envy of businesses throughout the world."
"We now work tremendously well for our mutual benefit."
He said the Australian and New Zealand relationship in rugby was an enduring success, with the 100th anniversary to be celebrated in Auckland next month.
- NZPA
O'Neill turns on IRB, cuddles up to New Zealand
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