Date set for 2011 RWC draw

2008-07-04 07:35

Wellington - The draw for the next rugby World Cup to be held in New Zealand in 2011 will be made in London on December 1, organisers announced on Friday.

For the first time, International Rugby Board (IRB) rankings will be used to split the leading teams between pools, with the top 12 as at midnight on November 30 automatically qualifying.

The draw of four pools with five teams will be made inside a giant rugby ball-shaped construction to be put up near London's Tower Bridge. The movable venue was used to promote New Zealand in Paris during the 2007 World Cup.

Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden said the date coincided with the annual November Test series, when southern hemisphere teams were in the northern hemisphere.

"The elite of the rugby fraternity" would then be in that part of the world, he said.

IRB chairperson Bernard Lapasset said the top four teams would be allocated in the top line, or band, of each pool.

"The next four teams will be allocated into band two with the remaining four teams allocated into band three," he said.

- AFP