English Premiership champions Saracens tactfully sidestepped a public spat with the Western Province Rugby Football Union, after being denied permission to play at the Cape Town Stadium.

The WPRFU Executive Committee, at a meeting on Monday, turned down a the request by Saracens to host their European Cup encounter with Biarritz - scheduled for January 14 - at the Cape Town Stadium.

In a statement the WPRFU made it clear that all rugby matches must be played at the grand old dame, the Newlands Stadium - including the proposed encounter between two of Europe's top clubs.

It would be the first time that a European Cup match is staged outside Europe.

"The Executive Committee decided that the home of rugby, Newlands, would stage this historic match," the WPRFU said in a statement, adding: "According to the South African Rugby Union constitution the final decision regarding the match venue lies in the hands of the host union."

Saracens, in a statement, said they would continue to talk with both the WPRFU and the City of Cape Town about the venue of the match.

However, they stopped short of saying they will take the match back to Europe.

"Saracens has noted today's statement by the Western Province Rugby Football Union," Tuesday's statement said.

"We are delighted that two world class venues in Cape Town both want to stage the historic European Cup match between Saracens and Biarritz on Saturday January 14.

"We will now continue detailed discussions with all parties."

Grant Pascoe, the mayoral committee member for tourism, events and marketing, said they would await the outcome of discussions between Sarries and the WPRFU.

"We have noted the statement by the WPRFU," Pascoe told rugby365.com, adding: "As I said at the media conference [last week], the city was approached to host the match and we were assured there was approval [for the match] from rugby authorities.

"We, the city of Cape Town, are now awaiting for the outcome of discussions between Saracens and WPRFU.

"We entered into a commercial transaction [with Saracens] and that is where our role ends in this situation - we are awaiting the rugby authorities ."

Pascoe said he did not want to get into a debate with the WPRFU over their refusal to allow the game to be played at the Cape Town Stadium.

He said that it is up to Saracens, who entered into a "commercial agreement" with the city of Cape Town, to come back and tell them what the situation is.

"It is unfortunate that it has come out in this way ... that WP Rugby is pitting it against the city [of Cape Town].

"We did not go after anybody, we did not bid for any event."

Pascoe added that there is a "bigger picture" for the city.

"We wanted to brand ourselves, to market ourselves overseas ... it wasn't purely about rugby," he told this website.

"It is about tourism, about foreign investment coming in via visitors coming to our shores and then promoting our city.

"There was no malice intended, it was not a way of getting at the WPRFU ... I just want to dispel that."

He added that they still want "fruitful discussions and negotiations" to continue with the WPRFU, saying it is not just about now, but about the future.

The WPRFU said decision to agree to the hosting of the match at Newlands was made in the best interests of WP Rugby and "once again shows loyalty to its suite holders and fans" who regularly attend matches at Newlands.

Newlands, which first hosted an official match in 1890, currently holds 45,000 fans, while the new Cape Town Stadium, a host venue for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, has a capacity of 55,000.

The home of WP rugby, however, boasts 300 hospitality suites in comparison to 100 at the newly built venue.

Cape Town Stadium currently serves as a home venue for Ajax Cape Town during the PSL season.

The last and only time rugby was played at the Cape Town Stadium was when the Stormers hosted Boland in their traditional pre-season warm-up match in February this year.

By Jan de Koning

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