KEY POINTS:
Bank on 20 teams taking part in the 2011 World Cup.
One of the pivotal questions in the lead-up to the event has been the number of teams taking part, with Rugby New Zealand 2011 boss Martin Snedden known to slightly favour a smaller tournament.
But that outlook has changed since his fact-finding mission to France, as has that of the IRB.
When IRB chairman Syd Millar addressed the media in Auckland this year he stated a preference for a 16-team format, due in large part to the seemingly unbridgeable gap between professional and amateur rugby nations.
But the performance of 'minnows' like Georgia and Tonga had brought about an abrupt change of heart.
"It's fair to say the 20-team contest was successful in France and that has swayed a fair bit of the thinking towards that option and away from the 16-team option," Snedden said.
"My feeling is it's swung back to the 20-team format and I'd be really happy if that is what we got here."
Snedden's team submitted a format for a 16-team tournament they thought would work for New Zealand, but said he had been prepared to go with whatever the IRB preferred.
Recently departed US Eagles coach Peter Thorburn is a proponent of the larger tournament and said the reasons he had heard for the reduction in teams were spurious.
"The IRB's desire to have a reduced tournament is incongruous relative to the money they are pouring into Tier Two nations," he said. He also said any cost-effectiveness reasons given were "erroneous". Mainly though, Thorburn has become a passionate advocate for the 'minor league' nations.
"It would be a travesty if they reduced it," he said. "It's the striving to get there that is important for so many nations. "if they lose by a big score when they get there it's not the end of the world. In fact it's almost secondary to the effort and energy put into the previous four years.
"Look at Tonga, they came within an ace of having to pull out of the tournament for various reasons and when they got there they were a revelation.
"For the US it would be damaging and it would be a disincentive to play. Once the Americans see rugby they're hooked by it."
