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Japanese sit uneasy over RWC bid

Wednesday 16th July 2008

World Cup bid: Will Japan fly rugby's flag in 2015?

The reaction to the recent announcement from the IRB that tendering for hosting rights to both the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups has been met with a mixture of confidence and scepticism in Japan.

JRU Chairman Nobby Mashimo has been clear in his determination that Japan will bid for the 2015 tournament, also announcing it as an 'Asian' bid for the tournament.

"We want to bring the World Cup to Asia, not just Japan," he said.

The rugby world generally - bar one obvious country - was not best impressed at the IRB's decision to award the 2011 tournament to New Zealand, particularly as the voting results were never made public.

The most popular theory is that one IRB council member changed his mind late in the day to vote for New Zealand, and there is also talk of a late agreement between Argentina and the NZRU to secure the Argentinian vote

But what has Japan hesitating this time is the cost of the hosting rights, which has been set at a staggering �100m ($197m) for the 2015 tournament, and �120m ($235m) for 2019.

One Japanese newspaper gave brief quotes from the JRU on Wednesday, this time calling the bid process 'controversial' and 'complicated', and not saying whether Japan would bid for both tournaments.

Factor in that two of Japan's allies for their 2011 bid, England and Australia, are both considering bids for the tournaments, and there is less confidence around the JRU offices.

But it the cost of the tournament, potentially prohibitive to many of the unions still struggling to raise rugby's profile in comparison to other sports, which has the Japanese most concerned.

Either way, the IRB is not presenting itself well in Japan and in other countries with the process.