Australia back IRB's claims
October 3, 2001

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) believes a rival nation is leaking confidential planning information about the 2003 World Cup.

The ARU won't finger the suspect, yet intimate someone at fellow joint Cup hosts, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), could be the culprit.

Reports say that a NZRFU member has allegedly leaked a draft copy of the controversial draw, which should be finalised within one month.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) insisted on Monday that the fixture schedule and pool structure of the 2003 World Cup had not yet been drawn up.

The IRB were responding to a story in Britain's Sunday Times that England had been disadvantaged by a schedule that could have resulted in them playing South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa again in successive weeks if they were to win the tournament.

The ARU have dismissed the draft copy as incorrect, but they are unhappy that rival officials would try to undermine planning for rugby's showcase tournament.

"The ARU shares the IRB's concerns about the continued speculation about the World Cup schedule and the continued confidentiality of tournament details," a spokesman said on Wednesday.

"We are told the IRB has evidence linking it to New Zealand, but we have no indications ourselves about where the information may have come from."

The IRB will withhold the final draw until they complete their commercial arrangements. The seedings will be released at the same time as the draw. - Sapa

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