Rugby: Long stays in 23 centres for World Cup sides

Takapuna Beach will become a second home to Sebastien Chabal and his French teammates, who will spend 21 days on the North Shore. Photo / Kenny Rodger

The French will take over Takapuna, Nelsonians will be learning Italian and Napier will become the Canada of the Southern Hemisphere when the Rugby World Cup tournament arrives in 2011.

Long stays in Christchurch for England and Argentina and a surprisingly long stay in Wellington for South Africa were among the other team allocations announced in Auckland yesterday.

Rugby NZ 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden announced 16 centres in the North Island and seven in the South Island would host at least one team during the tournament.

Ten centres which are not staging matches are among those which will host teams - the Bay of Islands, Gulf Harbour, Tauranga, Taupo, Gisborne, Wanganui, Masterton, Blenheim, Ashburton and Queenstown.

They join match hosts Whangarei, North Shore, Auckland City, Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill as bases for the teams.

Teams will move around during the group phases as they did not want to be based permanently in the one place, but some will spend a substantial number of days in one spot.

Christchurch will host England for 19 consecutive days. Argentina also spend 23 days, in two bursts, in the Garden City, which also hosts Australia.

South Africa will spend most of their time in Wellington (17 days) and Taupo (nine days). This surprised some, who thought they might want to be on the North Shore, where many expatriate South Africans live.

"They had a pretty clear view and we listened to that," said Snedden. "There's a nice synergy with South Africans on the North Shore but it doesn't have to happen."

France will spend most of their time on the North Shore, becoming de facto residents of Takapuna.

Rugged forward Sebastien Chabal and the French team will stay 21 days and only leave for short periods to play at Napier on September 18 and Wellington on October 1.

Other teams to get prolonged stays in one spot are Italy, who will spend 21 days in Nelson, and Canada who, fresh from stays in the Bay of Islands and Whangarei, will have 15 days in Napier.

In contrast, Ireland and a team yet to qualify from Europe will spend time in six towns.

The All Blacks will stay in the cities in which they play their matches: Auckland before the games against Tonga and France, Hamilton before they play an Asian qualifier (probably Japan) and Wellington before their final group match against Canada.

Other allocations include the Asian team spending 11 days in Gulf Harbour and Tonga having plenty of time in the Bay of Islands and Whangarei.

Warren Gatland will spend 13 days with his Wales team in his old stamping ground of Hamilton.

Gisborne will spend 12 days getting to know Namibia, while the United States will spend 16 days between New Plymouth and Wanganui.

The Government said the World Cup organisers had "pulled out all the stops" to bring the cream of international rugby to grassroots New Zealand.

Gerry Brownlee, Associate Minister for the Rugby World Cup, said Mr Snedden had made a huge effort to bring the excitement of the event to as many Kiwis as possible.

"Our passion for rugby means visiting teams are in for a real treat - they'll get to experience the very best of local hospitality, culture and knockout scenery."

WHO WILL HOST?

Auckland - France, England.

Nelson - Italy.

Napier - Canada.

Christchurch - England, Australia, Scotland.

Wellington - South Africa.

Hamilton - Wales.

- NZPA