IRB insist there will be no new vote

The IRB has dismissed a call from lawyers purporting to represent the Asian Rugby Union (ARFU) for a re-run of the vote that awarded the 2011 World Cup to New Zealand.

A report in the Sunday Times newspaper said the ARFU had threatened the sport's governing body with legal action unless it annulled the November vote that saw New Zealand beat South Africa and favourites Japan.

A letter from English law firm Addleshaw Goddard was faxed to IRB chairman Syd Millar asking for a new ballot to take place by March 31st on the grounds that the previous vote lacked transparency, the report said.

"As a result of unfounded allegations printed in an English newspaper . . . the IRB today stated that there would be no revote for the host union for Rugby World Cup 2011 and takes exception to any suggestion that the vote was not carried out in a proper and professional manner," said a statement released by the International Rugby Board.

"A letter containing various unsubstantiated and unfounded allegations has been sent to the IRB from an English firm of solicitors purporting to act on behalf of the ARFU and was printed in part in an English newspaper.

"The democratically elected officials of the ARFU have informed the IRB that the letter should not have been sent as it does not represent the views of ARFU and that the person who it seems engaged the solicitors did not have the constitutional authority to do so.

"The Secretary General of ARFU has written to the solicitors stating that they must cease and desist purporting to act for and on behalf of the ARFU."

Japanese rugby officials had questioned the decision to keep the vote count secret after each round of the ballot.

"We wonder why the vote, which took place when the All Blacks were in Britain, after the Lions toured New Zealand, was secret," Yoshiri Mori, president of the Japanese Rugby Football Union said in November.

"FIFA and the International Olympic Committee make their voting totals public. Why doesn't the IRB?"

The IRB attracted criticism for awarding the World Cup to New Zealand, which hosted the inaugural event in 1987, for missing an opportunity to bring the sport to a new audience.