IRB plans to put Middle East on World Cup map

WORLD rugby’s top official has predicted that the game will emulate football one day by taking the showpiece World Cup tournament to the Middle East — but not just yet.

FIFA’s decision last December to award the 2022 tournament to Qatar — a country of less than two millionpeople and one with an extreme desert climate — took the world by surprise and continues to rankle, particularly in more traditional footballing heartlands.

Mike Miller, chief executive of the International Rugby Board (IRB), shares football’s desire to penetrate new markets and communities but believes the oval ball game must learn to walk before it can run in less familiar territories.