Three of the five rescheduled games from the pool stage will remain in the South Island, with Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill hosting one extra game each.

The remaining two fixtures will be played in Wellington and North Harbour, whilst the two quarter finals scheduled for Chrischurch will be played at Eden Park.

It was also decided to move the Scotland versus Georgia clash from Dunedin to Invercargill.

Rugby World Cup Limited chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "Following the difficult decision to transfer the Christchurch matches all involved have worked hard to confirm the new venues as quickly as possible.

"We are pleased that three of the five matches will remain in the South Island.

"We appreciate the patience shown by the teams and fans during this difficult period and are enormously grateful for the support and cooperation of all our partners."

"Today's decisions provide the certainty for the affected seven teams, their fans and media around the rescheduled matches," added Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden.

"Our desire was always to transfer as many of the Christchurch pool matches as was reasonably possible to other existing South Island venues.

"At the same time we are very conscious that time is pressing, with just 163 days to go before the world's third largest sporting event kicks off, so we have also sought to minimise disruptions to ensure as few teams and their supporters were affected as possible"

Snedden also confirmed that the Otago Stadium will be a match venue for the competition.

"The Otago Stadium operators have provided us with the assurances we need for us to now be confident that the new venue will be ready to deliver on its Tournament obligations, so we are pleased to formally confirm this excellent new facility as a RWC 2011 match venue."

Details of the rescheduled fixtures are as follows:

Pool B
Argentina v England, Sunday September 11
Otago Stadium, Dunedin

England v Georgia, Sunday September 25
Otago Stadium, Dunedin

Argentina v Scotland, Saturday October 1
Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington

Scotland v Georgia, Wednesday September 14
Rugby Park, Invercargill

Pool C
Australia v Italy, Sunday September 18
North Harbour Stadium, Auckland

Australia v Russia, Saturday October 1
Trafalgar Park, Nelson

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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