French rugby union boss Bernard Lapasset today unveiled the French bid to stage to the 2007 World Cup finals saying they would follow the lines of the 1998 football finals in France.
As expected Lapasset confirmed that the French were proposing to follow the format used four years ago with 20 teams playing in a single competition.
Rivals England have already unveiled their programme which favours a radical shake-up for the tournament with one 16-team event for established superpowers and another 32-team event for the game's minnows.
Speaking from the brand new French rugby federation training headquarters south of Paris, Lapasset said that there would be 48 matches and that they would be spread over the same 10 stadia that were used for the football finals.
"These 10 grounds have a total capacity of 2,447,000 spectators for the 48 games, and that's is the highest in Europe," said Lapasset, who is vice-chairman of the organising committee along with French rugby legend Jean-Pierre Rives.
The French are proposing to stage the finals between September 7th and October 20th, 2007.
The International Rugby Board will examine the two dossiers and take a decision by April of next year.
AFP