Australia express interest in hosting World Cup

The Australian Rugby Union have taken the first tentative steps towards hosting another Rugby World Cup after lodging an official expression of interest with the International Rugby Board.

IRB member nations were instructed to flag up their interest in staging the code's flagship tournament in 2015 or 2019 last month.

In a statement issued on Friday, the ARU said it was merely 'keeping open its options' and that a thorough assessment process would be undertaken before committing to a full-scale bid for either tournament.

The IRB's decision on the hosting rights for both events will be made next July.

The 2003 Rugby World Cup Down Under carried costs of 120 million Australian dollars and attracted almost two million spectators to Australian venues with a cumulative television audience of 3.4 billion in 193 countries.