After staging the inaugural World Cup in 1987, there was a feeling of now or never for New Zealand in 2011. The tournament had moved on exponentially and become, as the PR men insisted anyway, the third biggest sporting event in the world behind the Olympics and FIFA World Cup. It has also undoubtedly become the cash cow of World Rugby and there was massive pressure every four years to maximise revenues.
None of which made New Zealand, a smallish difficult-to-access far flung nation with limited big stadia, a natural venue to stage the tournament again. As the perennially ranked number one t...