Rugby: Where the visiting hordes will descend

Dan Carter. Photo / Getty Images

World Cup organisers ticked another big box yesterday with the allocation of hosting cities - 2010 will now be about selling tickets.

However, if the Field of Dreams mystical theory of "If you build it, they will come" holds true, Martin Snedden and his Rugby New Zealand (RNZ) 2011 crew should have no worries about attracting the hordes.

Snedden yesterday announced the 23 towns and cities that would host teams during the event. In doing so the organisers have stayed largely true to the notion that the tournament would be an event that all New Zealanders could feel part of.

Of the 25 towns and cities that put in hosting bids, only Timaru and Whakatane walked away empty handed, with a lack of suitable accommodation their downfall.

But there were plenty of "little guys" who won. Gisborne, Ashburton, Masterton and Wanganui will all host teams as the World Cup gospel is spread throughout the country.

"It's been in our minds right from the start of planning for this," said Snedden. "We've been looking for a way of making this tournament special in a New Zealand way."

What organisers realised was they could not, like France before them, offer Paris or Provence, and they could not blow the budget on state of the art architectural wizardry.

"We looked at other major events overseas. We looked at something like Beijing and thought, 'How are we going to compete with that?' Well we can't," Snedden said. "So we look at New Zealand and say, 'Well, what's special about New Zealand?' In the end, it's the people and the country.

"Also, while it fluctuates a bit, the reality is we're pretty interested in rugby so there's a strong, uniting factor there we can tap into. If you give these smaller regions the opportunity they will take it [and] they're doing us a great favour because they're adding a flavour to the tournament that is unique."

This, said Snedden, was the strongest signal yet that this tournament would be a national affair, not a metropolitan one.

The danger in that approach is that the teams, in particular the big teams, do not buy into it, preferring instead to base themselves in one city. That fear has proved unfounded, as has the concern that the sheer scale of the tournament had outgrown New Zealand.

"Yeah, we were aware of that feeling so you treat it as a challenge and go out there and make sure it isn't a reality," Snedden said.

RNZ 2011 staffer Michelle Tapper had spent the past eight months bringing team managers to New Zealand and showing them around, "twisting their arms" where necessary and making adjustments where there were reasonable concerns.

"She's just done a fantastic job," Snedden said. "Those team managers have gone away saying, 'New Zealand is ready for this' and that's a great feeling when you know you have the confidence of those guys.

"We got all the team managers together at Heathrow about two weeks ago as part of the process and there was a huge degree of support from those guys for what we're doing."

If there were any particular winners it was the area north of Auckland, with teams based in North Shore, Rodney (Gulf Harbour), Whangarei and Waitangi in the Bay of Islands.

New Plymouth also struck paydirt, with five teams passing through there at various stages.

"But there are lots of other winners. Gisborne will be thinking, 'Wow, we didn't really think we'd be in the mix in the end' and Masterton would have had no idea they were in there. Ashburton likewise would have assumed they had no show. It was really nice today, to be able to spring a surprise on them and tell them they were part of the mix. They knew we were taking them seriously but all of them probably thought that when it came to the crunch they would miss out."

Sir Brian Lochore, a Wairarapa native, and Poverty Bay's Ian Kirkpatrick, former All Black captains, were in attendance.

This year, Snedden said, had been a good one for the organisers. Next year the focus changes from schedules to sales.

ALL BLACKS STAYING NORTH OF COOK STRAIT UNTIL END OF WORLD CUP POOL PHASE

The South Island will remain an All Black-free zone during the pool phase of the 2011 World Cup.

The national brand will instead rest their weary heads in just three centres, Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, before, as expected, they qualify for the knockout phase of the tournament.

Three is the minimum number of centres any of the teams will stay in, though some are visiting a lot more of the country. Ireland, for example will stay in six different centres during pool play - Queenstown, New Plymouth, Auckland, Taupo, Rotorua and Dunedin.

France will have the most concentrated stay in any one centre, spending 25 nights on the North Shore in two separate spells.

England start with 19 straight nights in Christchurch and South Africa start with 17 in Wellington.

Nelson will feel like Little Roma with Italy bunking down in the city for 21 nights over two spells.

In another feature of yesterday's announcement, of the 47 training venues to be used for the World Cup, 18 belong to rugby clubs and seven are schools.

While the cynical have in recent years pointed to the Pacific Islands as the most fertile breeding ground of New Zealand's rugby talent, it is at these venues that visitors might get a better gauge of the production line.

Included in the list are iconic clubs Ponsonby, who play out of Western Springs, Linwood in Christchurch and Otago University.

It is the schools which will no doubt get the biggest buzz from having some of the superstars of the game on their patch.

St Paul's Collegiate (Hamilton), St Peter's College (Cambridge), Rotorua Boys' High, New Plymouth Boys' High, Christ's College (Christchurch) and Southland Boys' High all host training, while the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin is adjacent to Logan Park High.

LOCAL HEROES

All Blacks' travel plans:

* Sept 3-9: Auckland, training Trusts Stadium.
* Sept 10-16: Hamilton, training St Peter's College.
* Sept 17-24: Auckland, training Trusts Stadium.
* Sept 25-Oct 2: Wellington, training Rugby League Park.