RUGBY: WORLD CUP:THE WORLD Cup in New Zealand later this year will be a fillip to a nation still reeling from the devastation of the Christchurch earthquake, chief organiser Martin Snedden said yesterday.

Just 150 days before the tournament opens on September 9th, Snedden said the organisational problems caused by February’s earthquake had been dealt with, although how best to involve the devastated city in the event was still a concern.

And while Snedden stressed organisers’ sympathy for the continuing plight of the people of New Zealand’s second city and was certainly not looking for a “crass marketing” dividend, he thought the tournament would come at just the right time.

“It will be good timing for New Zealand, it will be a real fillip,” he said.

“We have gone through a period of shock, we are still going through a period of grieving. We are quite tentative at the moment about outwardly celebrating too much.

“I think what will happen as the year goes on, is that people outside Christchurch will gradually get back to normal, and excitement will grow.

“And in the end, it’s possible that the earthquake will create an emotional feeling that New Zealanders will want the World Cup to be even more successful than they have previously been thinking. You look for things that unify, and this is an event that will unify the country.”

Snedden said it had not been “rocket science” to decide to relocate the seven matches scheduled to take place in Christchurch once the devastation caused by the February 22nd natural disaster became clear.

The holders of 170,000 tickets for the matches had been refunded €13.5 million and the redistribution of the games to other cities has been “largely” well received, Snedden said.

“Financially, we’re not sure of the impact,”s he added. “If everything goes our way, it will have very little financial impact, if any. But that is not something we’re able to determine until after the tournament itself.

“Emotionally, we’ve got a rugby-mad province that is not directly going to be part of the matches, so somehow we’ve got to find a way of making sure those people do have a proper opportunity to become involved.

“That’s going to be quite challenging.”

A home triumph on October 23rd was not essential to the success of the tournament, Snedden said, although New Zealand had been encouraged by India winning the cricket World Cup on home soil under similar pressure to that the All Blacks will be under.

“I think from a New Zealanders point of view, that would be the icing on the cake, said the 52-year-old, who played two cricket World Cups for his country.

“But from an international point of view, what they want to see is a tournament that does rugby justice on the field and which has a really good feel about it off the field.”

Up to 90,000 visitors are now expected to visit New Zealand for the World Cup and Snedden was confident his organising committee was on track to deliver them a tournament to remember.

“We’ve made our adjustments to take into account what’s taken place in Christchurch, there’s nothing we’re behind on,” he said. “Every single component that we have to put in place is on-track, or ahead of track.

“We’ve just got to keep that momentum going over the next 150 days.

“This is by far the biggest event we’ve ever hosted, we can’t contemplate failure,” Snedden concluded.

“It’s got to succeed and I think it’s heading in that direction.”