English enrol outside help

England upped the stakes yesterday in its battle with France to host the 2007 Rugby World Cup when it announced that Murrayfield in Scotland and the Millennium Stadium in Wales would host matches if it won the right to stage the tournament.

In another fresh development, England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) also said that four matches would be played at the new-look 90,000 seater Wembley Stadium.

And the RFU insisted their bid would deliver 50 per cent more commercial revenue than France's.

The RFU also expects the extra venues in their latest bid to drive up their ticket revenue by 25 per cent.

"It would put overall attendances for the tournament up from 1.6 million to 1.9 million," said Paul Vaughan, the RFU's commercial director.

"That is a massive knock-on effect in respect of the revenues. We believe they will go up by 25 per cent from the last bid we put in."

Although the International Rugby Board's (IRB) bidding rules prevent disclosure of financial information, it is believed that the England bid could raise in excess of £100 million.

The RFU also revealed details of a £20 million compensation package which it said would assist unions and tournaments whose usual programmes were adversely affected by the timing of the World Cup.

France were thought to have stolen a march on England when they said Ireland, Scotland and Wales would all be allowed to host pool matches if their bid was successful.

With those unions having two votes each when the IRB council makes its decision in April, it appeared that England - who had made great play of their sole host status - were in danger of being outmanoeuvred.

However, RFU chief executive Francis Baron denied the inclusion of Murrayfield and the Millennium Stadium was a "bribe" to their respective unions, saying the grounds would be rented at the standard rate of 15 per cent of the match revenue.

"Our proposals are very different from that of the French Federation," said Baron. "Our bid maximises IRB revenue and we believe it is worth 50 per cent more than the French bid.

"Three teams (Ireland, Scotland and Wales) will not have an unfair competitive advantage," said Baron, who added that Wales and Scotland would not get a run of matches on their own ground, although he refused to rule out the possibility that both might play on home soil at some stage.

"All unions get something out of our bid, not just the chosen few," Baron added.

"I want people to vote for our bid because it's the best bid. We're not in the business of offering inducements."

And Baron said that if the IRB went with England's favoured tournament time-frame of June and July the world game would lose less money than if it was played in the September/October period in which France want to stage the tournament.

According to RFU figures, a June-July World Cup would cost the global game approximately £15 million, with a September-October event costing £60 million.

And the RFU's chosen time-frame would prevent a clash with the English Premiership football season which starts in August and could drain a television audience away from the rugby showpiece.

The RFU said its preferred option was still to have a 16-team rather than the traditional 20-team tournament.

However, it said that it had scaled down its plans for a Rugby World Nations Cup for developing teams from 32 sides to 20 in a bid to make the event more manageable.

The IRB will announce their decision in April after receiving a recommendation from Rugby World Cup.