SYDNEY - Trans-Tasman rugby friendship was put to one side today when Australia voted for Japan to host the 2011 World Cup.
New Zealand won the vote to host the tournament, beating Japan in the second ballot after South Africa was eliminated in the first ballot at an International Rugby
Board (IRB) council meeting in Dublin, Ireland.
Rugby relations between the trans-Tasman neighbours have been uneasy since New Zealand lost co-hosting rights with Australia for the 2003 World Cup due to a contractual dispute.
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU), which had two votes out of 19 in the first round today, supported Japan in both phases of voting.
ARU chief executive Gary Flowers said his union supported the Japanese bid with a view to seeing the game grow internationally.
"I've got no doubt New Zealand will put on a first-rate World Cup," he told Australian Associated Press in Dublin.
"It will mean a lot to their country, but the foremost thinking in our mind was the global growth of the game.
"I think in the short-term, obviously an opportunity's been missed but the fact Japan polled so strongly, it's given them a good impetus in the future."
However, Flowers admitted the vote meant the world-ranked No 1 All Blacks would be even tougher to beat in 2011.
But he said the fact Japan boasted the second-largest economy in the world, was the fifth-largest country in rugby player numbers and Asia represented 60 per cent of the planet's population, were reasons enough to get behind the bid.
"That was very much in our thinking in terms that the World Cup is the jewel in the crown of rugby and it was a good opportunity to grow our game," he said.
"It may be a missed opportunity but that's the way the votes fell."
In the lead up to selection for the 2003 World Cup, Australia was quick to launch a single host bid after New Zealand said it could not comply with the IRB's corporate advertising rules.
A later report into the debacle by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum found that one of the reasons New Zealand lost its co-hosting rights was because of the New Zealand Rugby Union's poor relationships with Australia and the IRB.
- NZPA
