SCOTLAND will play in a World Cup sevens, 24-team qualifying
tournament in Dubai next November with eight sides going on to the
finals in Hong Kong in 1997.
The Dubai qualifier also features Wales, Fiji, South Africa, Tonga,
USA, and Italy plus a host of junior nations, so both home nations will
be expected to qualify comfortably.
Only three sides are exempt from the qualification rounds, hosts Hong
Kong plus England and Australia, the finalists from the inaugural
tournament at Murrayfield in 1993.
The other 64 Unions in membership of the International Rugby Football
Board will compete for the remaining 21 Hong Kong places at three
qualifying rounds. In addition to the Dubai event, qualifiers will be
held in Lisbon in June and in Punta del Este, Uruguay in January, 1997.
Ireland start their bid to reach the finals in the Lisbon tournament
alongside the All Blacks and 18 minor European rugby nations.
RWC director Keith Rowlands said: ''Each of these tournaments is in
itself a mini RWC, which will test to the full the ability of the teams
involved as well as the local organisers.
''For some of the nations involved this will be their first appearance
in a world event and, hopefully, help the development and promotion of
the game in their own countries. In order to facilitate the presence of
all IRFB countries, irrespective of their strength and financial means,
all participants in the three qualifying rounds will be transported and
accommodated at the expense of the organisers.'' Details:
Lisbon, Portugal (June 1996). Eight from 24 participants qualify:
Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, South Korea, Canada, Namibia, Romania,
Latvia, Portugal, Poland, Georgia, Ukraine, Israel, Belgium, Moldova,
Norway, Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Switzerland, Austria,
Andorra, Luxembourg.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (November 1996). (Eight from 24): Fiji,
South Africa, Tonga, Wales, Scotland, United States, Italy, Taiwan,
Arabian Gulf, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Russia, Malaysia, Botswana, Singapore, Zambia, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Yugoslavia.
Punta Del Este, Uruguay (January 1997). (Five from 16): Western Samoa,
Argentina, Japan, France, Netherlands, Uruguay, Cook Islands, Germany,
Bahamas, Bermuda, Chile, Paraguay, Sweden, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea,
Trinidad and Tobago.
* WORLD Cup director Marcel Martin has confirmed that qualifying
commitments for the 1999 tournament would be kept to a minimum for
England, Ireland, and Scotland, underlining SRU IB representative Fred
McLeod's recent comment that, while the details are not yet known,
Scotland should not find the process too onerous.
France qualify as play-off winners in South Africa, and Wales qualify
automatically as hosts after they trailed around Europe last year to
gain entry for the 1995 event in South Africa. The other major European
nations expect to play no more than two games in order to qualify.
''We know that the big unions have a crowded fixture list and it is
not the intention of Rugby World Cup to over-crowd that list,'' said
Martin, who has also suggested a participation fee for the 20 nations
which assemble in Europe for World Cup '99.
The World Cup organisers confirmed that the South Africa tournament's
commercial programme generated a gross income of #30.3m, with an overall
surplus of #22.1m which is almost double the figure achieved in 1991.
The total income was almost #46m.
About #4.5m of the surplus has gone to the South African Rugby
Football Union with #3m going to the nine provincial unions in SA as
venue fees.
The remaining #17.6m, after deduction of expenses involved in
organising the 1987 RWC Sevens and the 1999 tournament, will be used for
development of the game worldwide.
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