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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now it’s less than two weeks’ to go believe it or not until England host the Rugby World Cup 2015 and my next guest will be very relieved with England going to the tournament in that winning fashion after they eased past Ireland at Twickenham yesterday in one of the warm ups.  Well Ian Richie is the Chief Executive of the Rugby Football Union and he joins me now, very good to see you.  

IAN RICHIE:  Good morning Dermot.   

DM: Well what shape, as an England fan of course, do England go in to the tournament after that, well it was a pretty good victory against Ireland but there were one or two punches being pulled I think weren’t there?

IAN RICHIE: Yes, look I think it was a good performance and we were happy to get the win and it reinforces the fact that we are playing most of our games at Twickenham so we’re happy getting a win against a very good Irish team so bring it on I think in the next two weeks.  

DM: Of course England, as we were just discussing because we couldn’t hold ourselves back while we were off-air there, are in the so-called Group of Death, up against Wales, Australia and Uruguay and only two go through.  My goodness me, so those group stages and particularly this group, are going to be so competitive.  

IAN RICHIE: Well and Fiji, we’ve got Fiji in the opening game which is going to be a tough game as well so it certainly makes the pool stages interesting.  So we know we’ve got to win that and I think with the support of the people at home and being at home, I think it’s going to be a great series of occasions.  
DM: But do you think from the preparations, do you think England are where they want to be?  I mean there are always setbacks along the way.  

IAN RICHIE: You are always going to have slight bumps along the road but I think there’s been a very good training regime, the performance of the players in that has been very good, the coaching team are in a good place so yes, we feel that we are in a confident place.  It’s always going to be difficult but I think we’ve got a real shot at this and we’re certainly going to give it our best but we are feeling quietly confident.   

DM: Just that issue which is an overhang I suppose from the last World Cup in 2011 about discipline within the team, has that been drummed into the players now, particularly now with the increased proliferation of social media and things like that?  Discipline, you’re a team, you don’t speak out against each other, you don’t do anything silly, has that been drummed into them?

IAN RICHIE: Well I think Stuart Lancaster our head coach is very clear on that. I think culture right from the start, three and a half, four years’ ago, was very much let’s keep the management of the team together, let’s make sure we’re a coherent squad and I think we’ve done that.  I think that’s very important because all of these guys as well are all ambassadors, everybody who’s playing rugby on a Sunday morning as a seven year old is looking up to a Chris Robshaw, is looking up to a George Ford, so it’s very important that culture and that we’re seen to be great ambassadors and connected into the overall community game because that I think is vital.

DM: And that’s the legacy that you want to come out of the World Cup obviously isn’t it, that it’s the grassroots effectively that are energised.  

IAN RICHIE: Well yes, I think we have two or three things. Of course we want it to be a great event and I think it will be but I think as well more people playing, more people volunteering, participating, coaching, refereeing and what we’ve done over the last three years is to plan all of that, is to invest in that.  So we’ve had thousands more coaches and referees going through, we’ve invested in playing more rugby in schools that haven’t historically played rugby and what we want to do is look back in 16/17 and say as a consequence of what is the greatest shop window if you like for our sport, is that more and more people are going to play around the world as far as world rugby is concerned but in England as far as the RFU is concerned.  

DM: And what about ticket sales?  Are there any left?  Is this going to be a financial success?    

IAN RICHIE: Well we’re delighted with the way it’s gone.  There are over 2.2 million being sold, there are around 50 or 60,000 left so I’d urge people to have a look at the website and deal with that but we’re delighted with that and I think the impact of the whole event on the community – this is the third biggest sporting event in the world – and I think we have been delighted with the ticket sales but hopefully there are going to be fan zones, there’s been festivals of rugby, I hope the country is going to get engaged with that.  We get behind great sporting events in this country very well and …

DM: Well a lot of people want to wear the shirt as well, some people are saying, I mean the top price shirt is a bit toppy isn’t it, over a hundred quid?

IAN RICHIE: Yes, that was a special edition, there are plenty of ones that are there that are quite reasonably priced as well but yes, wear the shirt, get behind the team.  We all know the difference it made in the Olympics, I was lucky enough to be there when Mo Farrah went round the bend in the 5000 metres, they almost blew him across the line and I think hopefully that will happen with the squad and the team as well but be great hosts too.  We have got 20 of the best rugby playing countries in the world coming here, all around the country, 11 different cities having games, just enjoy it and participate.

DM: And yesterday we were talking about that, yesterday was a bit of a rehearsal at Twickenham for the event itself in terms of parking and changing rooms and all kinds of things.   

IAN RICHIE: Yes, we’ve had a series of checking out on the transport, checking the security, we’ve done the same in Milton Keynes, looking at things in Brighton, all over the country, to make sure that everybody is ready for it and testing is important but we’ve had a great team working on it and I think we feel happy that it is going to be a satisfying event for everybody who comes, an enjoyable event and rugby is a very gregarious game and everybody comes together …

DM: Very well put.   

IAN RICHIE: Therefore I think they will enjoy it.  We’ve got half a million people coming from across the world to this so have fun and enjoy it is the major priority.  

DM: Well meticulous preparation as we’ve heard there on all sides, we just need England to get out of that group.  Ian Richie, very good to see you, thank you very much indeed.