KEY POINTS:
With the decision to hold the Rugby World Cup quarter- finals in Wellington and Christchurch, the design of the 2011 event's "business end" is complete. The two semifinals and the final, as earlier indicated, will be played at the enlarged Eden Park, as will the play-off for third.
The knock-out rounds are the business end in more ways than one. They are the matches that are likely to generate a return at the gate for the substantial costs of hosting the tournament and it is to the Rugby Union's credit that it has not also put the quarter-finals into Eden Park. That was the expressed preference of the International Rugby Board, which owns the tournament and collects revenue from stadium advertising.
Auckland applied to be one of the quarter-final venues as well, probably more out of duty than desire. Four matches in the final fortnight is more than enough for the Queen City's appetite. In fact, Auckland was not particularly anxious to host both semifinals; that was a decision forced on the World Cup organisers by the necessity to have both matches played on the same weekend and the inability of New Zealand transport services to enable an expected 30,000 visitors to attend both.
It is harder to see the rationale for holding the losers' play-off at Eden Park rather than Hamilton, which had applied for it. The "bronze final" is held a day or two before the final and visitors based in Auckland could have made the trip.
The logistics of tour bookings have also forced the quarter- finals into just two cities. If both qualifiers from each pool are bound to play their quarter-final in the same city, it obviously eases travel planning for their supporters. The tournament might lose an additional $10 million by not holding the games at Eden Park but Wellington and Christchurch deserve them.
Wellingtonians can turn on a wonderful festive atmosphere for an event at their "Cake Tin", and Christchurch ensures that the tournament can retain the nationwide presence that the organisers are aiming for in the pools phase.
The next step, the planning of the pools, could be the most important stage for the ultimate success of the World Cup in New Zealand. What this country lacks in population and commercial scale it can more than make up in its culture of rugby at the grass roots.
If the Cup organising company can entice enough provincial centres to host teams and pool matches, New Zealand can give the teams and their followers an experience quite special. Each of the 19 overseas teams could be based in a different centre and each pool could be held in a different region.
It is not hard to imagine a town welcoming a foreign team, getting to know them, clubs and schools forming links with the team's home country, local teams and coaches helping the visiting players' preparation and the whole town behind the team by the time the tournament starts.
That could not only give the guests a warm and memorable experience but it would give communities throughout the country an intimate role in the largest international event New Zealand is ever likely to stage.
The organising company has been encouraging provincial centres to apply to host a team and hold one or some of the 40 pool matches. The applications are needed by October 31, the match venues are to be decided in March or April, the hosting towns later next year.
If the spread of the event is as great as the range of teams likely to attend, Rugby World Cup 2011 could engage the whole country in the way only this game
