Australia sets the benchmark for French Rugby World Cup

By TIM GLOVER

How do you follow that? With great difficulty, judging by the compromise that has already been reached for the 2007 World Cup.

"See you in France," was the message flashed up on the giant video screen inside the Telstra Stadium at the end of the most engrossing final of the most successful tournament.

The sign omitted to mention seeing you also in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, where 10 matches are scheduled to be played. If the International Rugby Board has learned anything from the extravaganza Downunder, it is that the World Cup should be played in one country, even if Australia passed the ball around to parts of the territory that rugby union wouldn't normally reach.

Yet for the next showpiece a classic fudge has already been reached, with France offering matches to the three home countries in exchange for their support in its bid to host the tournament. Wales struck a similar deal when it "hosted" the 1999 cup.

When England threw its hat into the ring for 2007 it was promptly kicked out again by every voting nation except Canada. England has a long memory and such dismissive treatment made it even more determined during the course of the last two remarkable months to win the Webb Ellis Cup.

It should be argued that the English chariot is already adorned with quite enough gold (they were heavily involved in 1991 and 1999), but if the competition had been staged solely in England next time round the response and the revenues would have been huge.

This is not to say that France won't put on a thoroughly professional show - an illuminated rugby ball on top of the Eiffel Tower, Jonny Wilkinson kicking a drop goal over the Arc de Triomphe - but a fragmented cup should not be part of the deal.

Nor should the English union entertain thoughts of moving closer to the Tri-Nations and treating the Six Nations, in which it claims it should have the lion's share of revenue, like a second thought. Now is the time for rugby in the Northern Hemisphere to ride the wave.

The response in Australia, where not so long ago the world in union had been very small indeed compared with rugby league and Aussie rules, was extraordinary, so much so that it is almost tempting, but not quite, to take the thing back there every four years.

The total attendance was 1,837,547; revenue from ticket sales was A$202 million ($228.6 million). Subtract Australian Rugby Union expenses of A$120 million and the profit from ticket sales was divided between the ARU (A$45 million) and the IRB (A$37 million). Take in IRB revenue from commercial backing, which was reckoned to be about A$140 million, and the total profit is approaching A$230 million.

Mike Miller, chief executive of the IRB, said the next one would be better. It wasn't difficult to predict the semifinalists in Australia, but Miller said that countries ranked from five to eight would be strengthened and money spent on the smaller nations.

The sooner the better, the more the merrier, although at seven weeks the tournament is too long and some of the ticket prices far too high.

John O'Neill, the flamboyant head of the ARU, wants to spend some of his profits on exploiting the code's high profile.

"We've got a substantial platform," he said, "but it's not the magic wand. It's what we make of it now. This is not the end, it's the beginning.

"Our ambition was to win the cup, stage the best tournament there's been and get the country to embrace the game. As Meat Loaf said, two out of three ain't bad."

Where O'Neill has scored, in addition to utilising the excellent volunteer base that was established for the Sydney Olympics, is in selling a game to the public that they had never fully appreciated.

What union offers is many different facets - a specialist scrum and lineout, players of different shapes and sizes and of different abilities.

And what professionalism has introduced is a massive element of hardness. When technical offences aren't being committed there is no respite and the final brought it all home. The public, paying big money, knew they weren't being short-changed by the players. This was the real thing.

While Clive Woodward and his squad wait to receive all manner of awards and receptions, including a victory tour through London next week, after which they will meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace and Tony Blair at Downing St, the coach has his diary filled in for next year and beyond. It is why he has asked his players to think about their immediate future.

"I've asked them all not to make any rash decisions and to see how they feel in January or February. It's a great team."

England play the New Zealand Barbarians at Twickenham on December 20, they tour New Zealand next year and in 2005 the Lions have a series against the All Blacks.

Two years ago when the Lions toured Australia and lost the series 2-1, they were coached by New Zealander Graham Henry, then in charge of Wales.

Woodward, whose contract with the RFU has been extended to the next World Cup, cannot be overlooked for the Lions' post and nor, intriguingly, can Henry for the coaching role of New Zealand.

In the meantime, C. W. and J. W. are on cloud 10.

"I knew the supporters were coming, but when we got to the stadium it was better than Twickenham," Woodward reflected.

"You never get an atmosphere like that in London. I've always dreamed that one day we might go to Twickenham and see 75,000 people in white shirts. Sport is massive in England but we don't take it quite as seriously as the Australians and that's our fault."

White jerseys? When the New Zealand Barbarians visit Twickenham it will look like a snowstorm.

Past Cup hosts

* 1987: New Zealand (major) and Australia (sub-host)

* 1991: England (major), Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France (sub-hosts)

* 1995: South Africa

* 1999: Wales (major), England, Scotland, Ireland and France (sub-hosts)

* 2003: Australia

* 2007: France (major), Scotland, Ireland and Wales (sub-hosts, subject to change if France opts to follow Australia's highly successful lead and go it alone).

- INDEPENDENT