Major hiccup for Japan 2019
The 2019 World Cup is set to remain in Japan, for now, despite a major U-turn in the plans over a new stadium.
Rugby chiefs will reorganise the 2019 World Cup schedule in the next month after Japan's decision to scrap a new national stadium because of the cost, World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset told AFP on Friday.
Lapasset said the world body could press for financial compensation but that for the moment there is no question of moving the tournament from Japan.
"We have given ourselves one month to get out of this situation. We must not delay, not have any doubts," Lapasset said on the sidelines of International Olympic Committee meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
"We must have something ready in a month," he added.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shocked World Rugby this month when he scrapped plans for a national stadium for the 2020 Olympics. The stadium was also to be used for the World Cup in 2019 including the final.
Abe said the two billion dollar cost of the stadium was too high and a new design should be found. The new stadium will not be ready for 2019.
"We need to know now how we are going to reorganise all of the competition so that there is a balance of different matches in the different stadiums," Lapasset said.
"We know the stadiums exist. There is the Yokohama stadium which staged the 2002 World Cup final. There will have to be a balancing of the number of matches held there."
Lapasset said the sale of tickets was a more "sensitive" topic because the stadium capacity is not the same.
"We have requested a precise analysis and we are considering [seeking] financial compensation if the losses are quite heavy," said the rugby chief.
He said there would be between 15,000 and 20,000 fewer tickets for each match that cannot be held at the proposed new Tokyo stadium.
"So there are financial implications for us," he said.
Lapasset said the Japanese federation was also angry at the stadium change and had apologised.
"At Word Rugby it is a bit complicated. There are a few federations who push to say, 'if it does not go well we still have four years for a change'. But we are not at that stage," he said.
AFP