Rugby league world champions Australia will kick off the 2000 World Cup at Twickenham, the first time in the sport's 105-year history that it will be played at the home of rugby union.

The Australians will take on England at the London stadium on October 28.

Rodney Walker, vice-chairman of the Rugby League International Federation, said: "The decision to take the high-profile game between Rugby League's arch-rivals England and Australia to Twickenham is particularly historic.

"It will signal the final healing of a sporting and social rift that has lasted more than a century as well as forging a growing bond between the two codes of rugby football in this country."

The World Cup will be competed for by 16 nations over 31 matches.

Tournament director Neil Tunnicliffe said: "While this is a tournament for the players and coaches it is also a chance for us to broaden the horizons of the game within the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"With this in mind, we structured the group stages so that we take as many matches as possible to new audiences...such as Cardiff, Dublin, Glasgow and Gateshead.

"Thereafter we intend to return the knock-out stages from the quarter-finals onwards to our strongest constituencies, in the north west and north east of England.

"There the genuine Rugby League communities of longest standing will have the chance to enjoy the business end of the tournament at the sport's cathedrals old and new -- Widnes, Headingley, Huddersfield and Castleford -- before the Theatre of Dreams itself, (Manchester's) Old Trafford, stages the final on November 25."

Although this year's cup final has been switched to Murrayfield, the RFL look set to decide between Twickenham and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for next year's match as the game's showpiece goes on the road during the rebuilding of the national stadium.

The use of Twickenham for rugby league would bring down the final barrier between the two rival codes, although Wigan played there in the Middlesex Sevens in the early nineties.

Officials are also expected to reveal details of broadcasting agreements, with the BBC and Sky expected to share television rights.

The 16-team tournament gets under way on October 28 and reaches a climax with the final at Old Trafford on November 25.