England’s opening game switched to Dunedin after earthquake

Christchurch is steeped in rugby tradition and had originally been slated to stage a total of seven fixtures, including two quarter-finals.

However, the deadly earthquake which struck the city on February 22 damaged Christchurch Stadium, forcing World Cup chiefs to revise their plans.

Martin Johnson’s England team will take on Argentina on September 10, but rather than in Christchurch the game will be played at Otago Stadium.

England will then take on Georgia at the same Dunedin venue on September 18, in another match which was initially scheduled for Christchurch.

Scotland were also due to play Argentina in Christchurch on September 25, but while the date remains the same, the match will now take place at the Wellington Regional Stadium.

The Scots have also seen another match switched, with their September 14 meeting with Georgia moved from Dunedin to Invercargill for “operational reasons”, organisers Rugby New Zealand (RNZ) 2011 announced.

While England and Scotland are among the Group B teams affected, Australia have been told their Group C opener against Italy will take place at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium on September 11.

The Wallabies were due to play two matches in Christchurch and will now take on Russia at Nelson’s Trafalgar Park on October 1.

It was already known that the two quarter-finals allocated to Christchurch would be staged at Auckland’s Eden Park, which will host the World Cup final.

Rugby World Cup Limited chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “We appreciate the patience shown by the teams and fans during this difficult period and are enormously grateful for the support and co-operation of all our partners during what has been a complex process.”

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson has withdrawn captain Alastair Kellock, Richie Gray, John Barclay, Ross Ford and Allan Jacobsen from club rugby for the remainder of the season to focus on the Rugby World Cup and beyond.

The RFU have won a court order aimed at finding out the identity of those selling Twickenham tickets at inflated prices through online ticket exchange site Viagogo.