New Zealand rugby chiefs quit

THE New Zealand Rugby Football Union's (NZRFU) top two officials quit yesterday and its board offered New Zealanders an abject apology for losing the right to co-host next year's Rugby World Cup.

Chairman Murray McCaw and chief executive David Rutherford fell on their swords after a damning independent report into the NZRFU's handling of World Cup negotiations was made public.

"The board accepts full responsibility for its part in the loss of sub-hosting rights," the NZRFU said in a statement.

"The board also offers a formal apology to the rugby public of New Zealand for its role in the loss," it said.

A written apology will also be sent to all the NZRFU's provincial unions.

In April, the International Rugby Board (IRB) handed Australia sole hosting rights for their showpiece event in 2003, slamming New Zealand officials for their "consistent failures and wholly inappropriate behaviour" during the trans-Tasman debacle.

Rob Fisher, the NZRFU's representative on the IRB, was elected chairman and general manager of rugby Steve Tew was named as acting chief executive.

"Mr Rutherford has agreed with the board that in the circumstances it is preferable for the future of New Zealand rugby that he should resign," the union said.

Rutherford denied he had been made a scapegoat. "You can't be the scapegoat if you decide yourself to put your head on the block," he said.

New Zealand had been offered the right to co-host the World Cup with Australia but the deal fell through when New Zealand was unable to guarantee clean venues stadiums free of advertising and pre-sold seating as demanded by the IRB and its Rugby World Cup (RWCL) arm. After losing the co-hosting rights, the NZRFU board argued it had taken "every reasonable action" to secure a World Cup role.

But faced with widespread criticism and anger among New Zealand's passionate rugby fans, the union set up an independent inquiry headed by former Chief Justice Thomas Eichelbaum. Eichelbaum's report was handed to the NZRFU 10 days ago. It found that an unravelling of links with international rugby bodies was at the heart of the loss of the co-hosting rights.

Fisher said the report showed that the NZRFU had made "critical misjudgements" over the five-year period during which the sub-host agreement was negotiated.

"In pushing for a favourable sub-host agreement, we misjudged the situation and we certainly had to learn some hard lessons," Fisher said.

The NZRFU board, which released the report after meeting with representatives from provincial rugby groups in Wellington, acknowledged that all the actions of its executives had been authorised by it.

All NZRFU board positions, with the exception of two recently-elected members, will now be up for re-election over the next two years.

"The review shows that we made some misjudgments over the past years and these contributed to the loss of co-host status," Fisher said.

Eichelbaum's report found in part that the original co hosting bid submitted by the ARU and NZRFU to the IRB and Rugby World Cup was "disadvantageous" to New Zealand. It also said the crisis arose because the NZRFU was unable to deliver "clean" spectator boxes because of previous contractual arrangements it had already entered, exposing it to a potential liability of AUS$10 million. But Eichelbaum also found the ARU and NZRFU played a part in the breakdown of relations and RWCL's "administrative deficiencies" contributed to the crisis.