Top union officials duck for cover over World Cup report

By WYNNE GRAY

The mandate of New Zealand rugby's top administrators remains tenuous after yesterday's meeting to discuss the report into the loss of World Cup hosting rights.

Embattled chairman Murray McCaw did not deliver the brief statement the board issued on Sir Thomas Eichelbaum's report. Union employee Greg Peters was left to hand it out.

The NZRFU has asked all the provincial unions to send representatives to Wellington on Tuesday to be briefed on the report. The unedited document would then be made public.

The board spent most of the day locked in debate in the Wellington office of law firm Simpson Grierson before issuing the press release.

The brevity of the summary and its delivery by Peters instead of anyone from the board suggested the meeting had been turbulent.

The NZRFU has been wary about detracting from today's Tri-Nations test between the All Blacks and Springboks, but had McCaw been retained as chairman, it would have seemed appropriate for him to say so and then announce that the report would be made public next week.

This latest delay suggests the board needs further time to meet again today, to lobby or to seek more legal advice if there are implications for chief executive David Rutherford, McCaw or any other staff.

Sir Thomas' report was commissioned on Anzac Day, soon after New Zealand lost its sub-hosting role for next year's World Cup.

The board received Sir Thomas' report last weekend and had all week to prepare for yesterday's meeting.

Their statement read: "The board of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union will meet with representatives from each of the country's provincial rugby unions in Wellington next Tuesday afternoon to discuss the independent report of Sir Thomas Eichelbaum into the Rugby World Cup 2003.

"The board ... wanted to brief the unions on the report and its conclusions before making the report public. The full unedited report will be released immediately after the meeting with the provincial union representatives."