NZ Rugby World Cup 'exceptional' - IRB head

Mike Miller. Photo / APN

This Rugby World Cup has been the best ever - "probably" - and the tournament will return to New Zealand some day, says the head of the International Rugby Board.

"If you take it all together, it's certainly exceptional," IRB chief executive Mike Miller said yesterday.

"Best ever? Probably.

"But, you know, if you ask the people who worked on France, they would say, yes, it's very good, but ... and the people who worked on Australia as well, which was another great tournament.

"It's certainly set the bar very high for England. It's going to be very difficult for England or anyone who follows to have a tournament which has been as successful as this, I think."

Only two weekends remain. Two hundred tickets to Sunday's All Blacks v Australia semifinal were released at midday yesterday and sold out within hours.

For Saturday's semifinal, between France and Wales, about 3500 tickets are left in most seating categories, priced from $300 to $800.

Tournament organisers have also announced that a couple of hundred extra tickets to the grand final will be made available today at midday.

IRB tournament director Kit McConnell encouraged visitors and locals to make the most of the few matches left.

"Don't let the last two weekends pass you by," Mr McConnell said.

He urged everyone to end the World Cup on a high.

"If you can't manage to make it out to the stadiums, just make sure you share it with friends and family, get down to the waterfront, get down to a fan zone nearby, just make sure you make the most of the last two weekends."

Mr Miller said the tournament's atmosphere, volunteers, operations and the co-operation between Rugby New Zealand 2011, the New Zealand Rugby Union, local and national governments and the IRB had been "absolutely great".

But the performances on the field were also standouts.

"The first World Cup I saw in the flesh was in '91 and I would say this must be the most competitive World Cup ever."

The IRB had made a calculated decision to pair a return to New Zealand - a spiritual home of rugby but yielding lower revenues - with a high-grossing event in England. Deciding two World Cup hosts at a time allowed some risks to be taken, he said.

"I think it's good that in this modern era, the council was prepared to take a decision that wasn't just based on, 'where can we get the most money?'," he said. "Whether we come back to New Zealand at some point? Look, I'm sure the World Cup will come back here at some point. It's just that there are so many other countries that want to host now that it will be a while."

What's left

* Wales v France: 3500 tickets, all seating categories, $300-$800.
* All Blacks v Australia: None.
* Bronze final: 20,000 tickets, categories A, B and C, $200-$360.
* Grand final: Limited release of tickets online at midday today.