New Zealand may have forfeited their right to co-host the 2003 World Cup, Australian Rugby Union officials said Tuesday.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union failed to sign the sub-host agreement by the Tuesday deadline the International Rugby Board had set.

New Zealand had been scheduled to stage 23 of the 48 games, including one semi-final. And with less than a week until the World Cup launch in Sydney, when the draw and venue for the game's showpiece event will be announced, the ARU was still to hear from either he NZRFU or the IRB.

"The ARU received nothing at the close of business and is communicating overnight with the IRB," an ARU spokesman said. "We're also trying to contact the New Zealand Rugby Union but at this stage we don't know what they are intending or what the IRB is intending."

The spokesman said Australia could host the entire Cup, but it was "not its objective".

The NZRFU was defying an IRB demand to change the dates of its National Provincial Championship to avoid an overlap with the start of the World Cup in October.

Rugby World Cup organisers have suggested a compromise that would allow the NPC semi-finals and final to be played during the World Cup - an overlap of 10 days - as long as the matches were not played at World Cup venues.

The NZRFU, which makes around NZ$20million annually out of NPC, yesterday could not yet guarantee it would host any games.

NZ Rugby Football Union chief executive David Rutherford commented, "I can't categorically guarantee you that we'll hold the Cup at this stage, but I'm more certain than last week," he said on radio.

Under the co-host deal with the Australian Rugby Union, New Zealand was expected to host 23 of the 48 World Cup games, including one semi-final.

The official buildup to the next tournament is due to be launched on March 12, at a Sydney zoo.

However a series of disputes, and leaks to the media about cup details, has upset the Australian and New Zealand unions and the International Rugby Board.

Rutherford said three or four issues would be resolved, one way or the other, this week.