Australia Rugby Union chief John O'Neill has revealed just how close they came to losing the 2003 World Cup, with England and France waiting in the wings.

Last Thursday, the International Rugby Board voted Australia would stage the 48-game showpiece on their own after New Zealand were axed as co-hosts following a damaging wrangle over stadium advertising.

New Zealand government officials became embroiled in the row, which centred around the provision of 'clean' stadiums, free of pre-existing advertising arrangements.

The NZRFU said they couldn't comply with the request, effectively forcing the IRB into an embarrassing postponement of the competition's launch in February.

The IRB claimed New Zealand officials had known of their requirements for four years and had consistently failed to comply with deadlines to confirm their acceptance.

Tournament organisers had already been angered by the Kiwis' failure to move their domestic NPC Championship out of World Cup time, reluctantly agreeing to an overlap in the two competitions.

Even when New Zealand were originally ditched, it was thought the IRB would eventually climb down, particularly given the standing of the All Blacks in the game.

But it appears that, as the saga went on, the IRB came ever closer to stripping Australia of the tournament altogether and handing it to either England or France, the two sides vying for the 2007 tournament.

O'Neill revealed the threat was present until the IRB council met in Dublin and eventually approved the ARU's solo host bid.

"I am convinced if we hadn't put our best foot forward, the tournament would have gone to the northern hemisphere," O'Neill told the Australian.

"It would have been in France or England. They are the two countries putting their hands up for 2007.

"The RWC board and IRB were getting heartily sick of the friction in this part of the world, and sponsors and others very sick of the bad publicity."

"The level of exasperation by the RWC board was really that high," he said.