Australia consider 2019
July 14 2008
ARU boss John O'Neill says the union will decide by August 15 whether or not to bid for the 2019 Rugby World Cup hosting rights.
The union is baulking at a supposed £120m ($235m) fee to be levied by the IRB for the rights, and O'Neill generally has been isolating himself from the IRB with continued grumbles over supposed organisational problems and the implementation of the ELVs.
A column in the Australian press on Monday outlined its fury at the IRB's perceived greed, and dredged up several matters from the past, but O'Neill still said his union is intent on bidding.
"Clearly, we have an interest in potentially bidding for 2019," O'Neill said to the AAP.
"We will go through an assessment process taking into consideration all the pros and cons of another tilt at hosting a World Cup.
"The formula is a somewhat daunting one with the tournament fee for 2019 being 120 million pounds. We need to factor that in."