SA mulls bid for Rugby World Cup in 2015

South Africa is considering bidding for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. South Africa has sent a letter to the International Rugby Board for details on the tender process, which is expected to end next year.

SA Rugby managing director Jonathan Stones said the IRB was thinking of staging every “two out of three” World Cups in European time zones for bigger TV audiences and better revenue.

“New Zealand may have the World Cup in 2011, but it isn’t ideal for the television audience, and the IRB derives much of its development income from broadcast money,” Stones told the Sondag newspaper.

“So the idea is to have either every two out of three or three out of four World Cups in these time zones to maximise the incoming revenue.

“We are perfectly positioned in those time zones and that is why we sent a letter to the IRB inquiring about the tendering process for 2015.

We are at the beginning stages, so there is a lot of work to be done before we decide if we will put in a bid.”

Japan was also interested in holding the 2015 Cup, after losing a close bid for the 2011 event.

South Africa hosted a successful tournament in 1995, and won its second world championship last year in France. - Sapa-AP