Rugby: World Cup draw postponed

The official World Cup draw, due to take place in Sydney next Tuesday, has been postponed.

International Rugby Board officials confirmed the draw had been put back because of the ongoing row between the Australian and New Zealand Unions over the division and schedule of matches.

The IRB have also been irritated by the refusal of the New Zealand authorities to rearrange their domestic NPC championship outside of the World Cup programme.

Negotiations between the two unions have been ongoing for some considerable time, but so far no agreement has been reached.

The NZRFU are known to be unhappy with a pre-draw schedule which was issued last year.

That draft saw England, Wales and South Africa, widely seen as three of the most attractive countries in the competition, all placed in Australia, with New Zealand hosting France, Ireland and Scotland.

Given that Australia will also host both semi-finals, the Kiwis felt there was little commercial advantage to them hosting the competition and threatened to pull out altogether.