IT EMERGED last night that England and Wales are lining up a bid for the 2015 Rugby World Cup that will leave Scotland and Ireland out in the cold.
The news leaked out after the Prime Minister met with the English Rugby Football Union at a Downing Street function to mark the launch of a foundation for injured players. In attendance were RFU officials and England rugby players, and after praising their efforts in previous tournaments, Gordon Brown said he hoped they could bring the 2015 RWC back to "this country".
The Prime Minister, who suffered an eye injury as a teenager playing rugby at Kirkcaldy High School, said: "I believe that rugby is one of the great sports and I also believe we can win the Rugby World Cup for this country in 2015.
"I hope that you will be able to persuade other countries that the Rugby World Cup should come here.
"I am here to support people who were part of the 2007 World Cup team when you played South Africa (in the final], having already beaten France and Australia. I was very proud to be in Paris that day when you took on the South Africans and performed so well."
Brown's remarks were seized upon last night by a spokesperson for Shona Robison, the Scottish Government sports minister, who said: "This is a deeply regrettable development and the Prime Minister has made an error of judgment in wholeheartedly endorsing the solo England bid while the SRU have been engaged with Wales, Ireland and England exploring the possibility of co-hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Gordon Brown's announcement is premature and very unhelpful."
The RFU had earlier met with Mr Brown and sports minister Andy Burnham and insisted that the Prime Minister's support was great news for the English bid. Martyn Thomas, their chairman, revealed that plans for a British-wide tournament, currently being pushed by Scotland, Ireland and Wales, are no longer on their horizon.
He stated: "I have had a very positive meeting with Andy Burnham who is the boss and with Gordon Brown who is the ultimate boss! Certainly Andy is very supportive in helping us win (the bid to host] the Rugby World Cup.
"England will bid for the World Cup. We have certainly had very good discussions with the Welsh in terms of using the facilities they have, particularly the Millennium Stadium but also the Ospreys and maybe the new Cardiff stadium.
"I am sure if we go ahead with the bid we will certainly involve games in Wales. We also want to make sure there are games in the north of England and that it reaches out to as many people as possible."
Thomas met with Roger Lewis, the Welsh RFU chief executive, ahead of Wales' RBS Six Nations match with England in Cardiff on Saturday. Lewis stated: "There are two thoughts on the table. Do we go four home unions or do we do England and Wales? I do feel what will deliver a commercially successful Rugby World Cup 2015 will be a strong RFU because Twickenham is the most powerful machine for generating money in the world game.
"My preferred option would be for us to be part of that (England bid] with us hosting pool stages and a quarter-final here at the Millennium Stadium."
As well as the four home unions, Australia, Italy, Japan and South Africa are currently preparing bids for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with a decision on the hosts for both the 2015 and 2019 tournaments to be taken on 28 July.
A Downing Street spokesman last night tried to play down Brown's backing for the RFU, insisting: "The Prime Minister believes we can win the 2015 World Cup for this country. He was not getting involved in different bids, but stating he would welcome it coming to England or any of the home nations."
Dominic McKay, the SRU's director of communications, stated: "We believe there is an exciting case for world rugby to have a four home union bid, and we continue to discuss working up a bid in that regard. We have had good discussions with the Scottish Government and EventScotland, and they see strong merit in a four home-union bid."
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