Wales may not get World Cup advantage

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England have struck a deal with the Welsh Rugby Union to stage five pool matches and two quarter-finals in the 74,500 capacity stadium - but that agreement is still subject to approval from the IRB.

Japan are in a similar boat having included plans in their successful bid to split a pool between Hong Kong and Singapore in order to make the 2019 World Cup an Asian tournament.

The IRB require a "compelling reason" for any World Cup host to stage matches outside their territory and the Millennium Stadium would appear to tick all the relevant boxes.

England 2015 is projected to be the most profitable World Cup ever with targets to sell a record 2.8million tickets, and the Millennium Stadium is a key part of those plans.

But questions were raised in Tuesday's IRB council meeting about whether Wales should benefit from home advantage in an England World Cup.

And IRB chief executive Mike Miller said: "They (Wales) may not necessarily be there (at the Millennium Stadium).

"We will have to look at the match schedule and see how that would work.

"The vote was for matches in the host territory only. The host unions can then come back to the Rugby World Cup board and if they want to propose matches in other territories we would look at it and see if it met certain criteria.

"It would need to be in the best interests of the game globally, enhance the showcase and could it increase the finances? There would be no problem necessarily but we have to have the discussion. We will see when they come back with their proposals, have a look and see what is in the best interests of Rugby World Cup."