Rugby: Olympic Stadium earmarked as 2015 World Cup venue

Scotland’s targeted advance on the 2015 Rugby World Cup could take in a trip to London’s Olympic Stadium, it was claimed today.

With England and Wales hosting the event, the company managing the Stratford venue has submitted a bid to have the stadium included among a raft of sites for rugby action and a report also indicates that the application is receiving serious consideration.

Scotland, whose chief executive, Mark Dodson, this week launched an ambitious scheme featuring World Cup glory as part of a four-year plan, could be one of the first rugby teams to sample the arena and Paul Vaughan, chief executive of English Rugby 2015, said: “It would be great to have a world-class event in a world–class venue.

“It will help the Olympic legacy as well, so we are very keen to work with them on that, particularly because rugby is going to go into the Olympics in 2016 in Brazil.”

Emirates Stadium is presently on a shortlist of 2015 rugby World Cup venues but it is understood a successful Olympic Stadium bid would replace the Arsenal football ground.