NEWS ROUND-UP:JUST A few yards away from the spot where Manu Tuilagi jumped off a ferry last week, English officials launched what they hope will be a more upbeat 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Given England’s party-animal reputation in New Zealand, it was probably sensible to opt for a low-key harbourside ceremony, with not even a double-decker bus in sight.
Instead they made do with a sober-suited Paul Vaughan, chief executive of RWC2015, and a QA session involving Lawrence Dallaglio and Will Greenwood, hosted by a Kiwi comedian, James McOnie, who had been mugging up on the latest English headlines.
“Will there be looting?” he asked excitedly, having already compared the good-humoured Vaughan to Alan Partridge. Behind the stage was a montage of iconic English images, ranging from the Angel of the North and Nelson’s Column to a Mini Cooper.
In every other respect, though, England intend to do things bigger, if not necessarily better, than New Zealand have done this time. Vaughan has set the bar high, with estimated ticket sales of 2.8 million, double the projected figure at this tournament. Jonny Wilkinson and England’s outstanding women’s flanker Maggie Alphonsi will be joining Dallaglio and Greenwood as ambassadors, with Old Trafford, the Emirates Stadium and Wembley among the proposed venues for the games.
But major loose ends remain. There is not yet an agreed tournament start date, for example, with Argentina’s entry into the Four Nations from next year having further congested the fixture list.
The tournament could kick off in the first, second or third week of September which, in turn, could govern which grounds can be used. There are 12 proposed venues – St James’ Park, Old Trafford, Anfield, Elland Road, Ricoh Arena, Welford Road, Kingsholm, Wembley, Twickenham, Emirates Stadium, St Mary’s and Millennium Stadium – although that figure could drop to 10. With average crowds of 58,000 needed at every match if targets are to be hit a lot of of hard work lies ahead.
Guardian Service
