THE HERALD REPORTS

KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer December 15 2006

The Scottish Rugby Union officially signed over all responsibility yesterday for the staging of next year's World Cup matches at Murrayfield.
In a ceremony at the national stadium, Gordon McKie, the SRU's chief executive and Bernard Lapasset, president of the French Federation de Rugby signed the agreement between the two bodies.
With public relations executives stressing that this was a French language document, every attempt was clearly being made to indicate who could claim credit for any success, but also where blame for failure might lie.
Naturally all concerned spoke with great optimism about the prospect of filling Murrayfield for both of next September's matches – Scotland play both the All Blacks and Romania – in spite of historic evidence to the contrary.
Low attendances at matches held in Scotland at the 1999 World Cup and for all but the biggest matches in recent years, combined with very high prices for next year's World Cup matches has generated grave concern.
Lapasset said, however, it had been important to keep prices high for leading matches like Scotland v New Zealand to generate the best possible returns and preserve the event's integrity.
"That was a decision for the organising committee and Rugby World Cup Ltd," said Lapasset, reinforcing that message regarding where the buck stops.
McKie meanwhile said the SRU was not washing its hands. "We are delighted to be hosting two games in Edinburgh in this truly special, global event," he said.
"I know there is a degree of scepticism over what happened many years ago. I prefer not to dwell on history but on the future."
As for comparison with last month's meeting with Romania he added: "This is not your annual autumn Test game." He urged the rugby community to support the matches.

This article was posted on 15-Dec-2006, 08:30 by Hugh Barrow.