Australian Rugby Union (ARU) officials said today their proposal to drop New Zealand as co-hosts and stage the 2003 World Cup alone had cleared its first major hurdle.
An ARU spokesman said Australia's plan to stage the 48-match tournament by themselves had been unanimously approved by the Board of Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL).
But he said the RWCL's approval still had to ratified by the International Rugby Board (IRB) council, which meets in Dublin this weekend, before a final decision was made.
Australia, with the backing of RWCL, the IRB's World Cup arm, last month withdrew their offer to let New Zealand co-host the tournament after the Kiwis refused to sign the sub host union agreement over concerns about their ability to provide venues clean of pre-booked advertising and seating.
RWCL then gave Australia 21 days to provide an alternative plan for staging the tournament alone, despite later New Zealand pleas to reinstate them as co-hosts.
The ARU spokesman said New Zealand Rugby Football Union chief executive David Rutherford telephoned ARU boss John O'Neill last week to arrange a meeting to discuss the World Cup but O'Neill told him it was up to the IRB.
