THE Rugby Football Union insists Southampton's St Mary's stadium plays an important part in their 2007 World Cup bid.

As the Daily Echo revealed yesterday, the RFU have included Saints' £32m home in their list of grounds to hold matches in the sport's showpiece tournament.

England's preferred option for the 2007 Rugby World Cup includes an innovative plan to use 70 grounds throughout the country.

Sixteen stadiums have been identified for the Rugby World Cup, including St Mary's (pictured), while 54 others would be used for the ground-breaking Rugby World Nations Cup.

Terry Burwell, the RFU Operations Director, said: "We've been firmly committed to obtaining a geographical spread and giving access for everybody to get to World Cup matches.

"There is a gap on the South Coast and from Southampton the population conurbations of Bournemouth, Brighton and Portsmouth are very accessible.

"That's going to bring an entirely new dimension to the game in that area and get everybody involved.

"St Mary's is a fantastic new facility, as everybody saw from the soccer international last week, and we have been discussing doing this with the St Mary's management before they even built the stadium.

"We've been looking for venues for the Heineken Cup and for the Powergen Cup semi-finals.

"We've used the Madejski Stadium in Reading very successfully and the capacity there is only 24,000. St Mary's holds 32,000 so it gives us a great opportunity.

"They (the St Mary's staff) are very excited about it.

"Stadium directors and managers love nothing more than staging full-house matches and, with the new playing surfaces available, that includes rugby as well."

For the 32-team RWNC, which will run simultaneously with RWC, two grounds in each of the Constituent Body have been selected.

They include Shelford and Bury St Edmunds (Eastern Counties), US Portsmouth and Aldershot (Hampshire), Hertford and Old Albanians (Hertfordshire), Blackheath and Maidstone (Kent), Ealing and Imber Court (Middlesex), Richmond and Esher (Surrey), Brighton and Worthing/Hove (Sussex).

Graeme Cattermole, Chairman of the RFU Management Board, added: "The fact that their club has been chosen to host a game such as Chile versus the Cook Islands is important to them because they will feel part of the Rugby World Cup."