Johannesburg — THOSE darn Kiwis. Not only did they do us out of hosting the 2006 Soccer World Cup by sending a confused old man to not vote back in 2000, but now they've added insult to injury by costing us the 2015 Rugby World Cup too.

That may seem like a case of sour grapes to rival the "We wuz poisoned by a waitress called Suzie" excuse used by the All Blacks after they lost to the Springboks in the 1995 World Cup final, but there's an element of truth to it nevertheless. Tuesday's decision by the International Rugby Board (IRB ) to award the 2015 competition to England rather than SA or Italy was almost certainly swayed to no small degree by fears that the next World Cup, set to take place in remote New Zealand the year after next, at inconvenient times for the world's television viewers, will lose pots of money.

England's bid won not because it was technically superior or presented more professionally than ours, but because it stands to bring in a larger "splodge of wonga" to refill the IRB's coffers. Half-full stadiums in SA during the recent British and Irish Lions tour, and the need to drop prices to avoid embarrassment in Bloemfontein last weekend, won't have helped our bid one bit.

And it's no good bleating about the need to develop the game in Africa -- the 2019 competition granted to Japan is the IRB's nod in the direction of development. The 2015 World Cup is about paying the bills, and for that you need to be able to charge hefty prices in a hard currency.

Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that SA will be first in line for the 2023 competition either. The Japanese tournament will no doubt be well organised and profitable, so there will be less pressure on the IRB to choose a money-spinner to follow.

But if development is again prioritised, the proposed "America's Cup" tri-national competition between the US, Canada and Argentina will surely produce stiff new competition for the 2013 hosting rights.

If the South African Rugby Union really wants to develop the game in SA and our neighbouring states, it would be better off putting more of its resources into making sure there are rugby fields in the townships.