26 Aug 2011

Snedden says Rugby World Cup must improve

6:55 pm on 26 August 2011

Rugby World Cup boss Martin Snedden says the event in New Zealand has to provide a much better on-field spectacle than the 2007 tournament or the popularity of future showpieces will be at risk.

Snedden is in Australia trying to entice more people across the Tasman and says spectator numbers are a big part of the equation.

But he says another is he doesn't want to see a repeat of the grinding, stodgy matches in 2007, culminating in the tryless final in which South Africa beat England.

If that becomes the norm Snedden says it will cause serious problems for the event's continuing popularity.

He says more Australians should come because the perfect scenario would be a New Zealand-Australia final in which the Wallabies would have a genuine chance of winning a third World Cup.