The Olympic Stadium has been named as one of the venues to be used for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
The Stratford stadium, which West Ham United will be moving into ahead of the 2016/17 Premier League season is one of 13 arenas to have been chosen to host matches in the tournament, which takes place in September 2015.Five of the tournament's 48 matches will be played at the Olympic Stadium, which is one of ten football-based venues chosen to host the games. Only three of the 13 grounds - Twickenham, Gloucester's Kingsholm Stadium and Exeter's Sandy Park are dedicated to rugby.
The 54,000-capacity stadium will host two Pool D matches (France v TBC and Ireland v Italy), one Pool C match (New Zealand v To Be Confirmed), one Pool B match (South Africa v To Be Confirmed) plus the Bronze Final (aka third place play-off) on Friday, 30th October.
Manchester United's Old Trafford was removed from the pool of prospective venues due to worries over the impact matches might have on the playing surface. Tickets for the tournament go on sale from next year.
The 13 Venues of Rugby World Cup 2015
In order of capacity
1. Wembley Stadium, London – 90,256
2. Twickenham, London - 81,605
3. Millennium Stadium, Cardiff – 74,154
4. Olympic Stadium (West Ham Utd) – 54,000
5. St James’ Park (Newcastle Utd) - 52,090
6. City of Manchester Stadium (Man City) – 47,800
7. Villa Park (Aston Villa) – 42,785
8. Elland Road Leeds (Utd) – 37,914
9. King Power Stadium (Leicester City) – 32,312
10. Amex Stadium (Brighton) – 30,750
11. Stadium MK (MK Dons) – 30,717
12. Kingsholm Stadium (Gloucester Rugby) – 16,115
13. Sandy Park (Exeter Chiefs) – 12,300
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