Rugby-World Cup report does not hold NZRU to account-former CEO

WELLINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - New Zealand's 2007 World Cup review lacked punch, was not timely and did not hold the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) to account for their decisions, the organisation's former chief executive said on Friday.

The review by lawyer Mike Heron and sports administrator Don Tricker on behalf of the NZRU was released on Thursday.

It identified several factors, including a controversial conditioning programme, lack of match play, refereeing in the quarter-final and failure of the team's leadership group, as contributing to the 20-18 defeat by France.

However, former NZRU chief executive David Moffett said the review could have been completed months ago with many of the contributory factors already well known by the public.

"Why has it taken so long to produce a report where most items covered in it were being talked about before the World Cup," Moffett was quoted as saying in Friday's The Press newspaper.

"The big weakness in this report is it doesn't report on anything we don't already know.

THINGS WRONG

"The NZRU would have been far better off holding up their hands at the time and saying, 'We got a few things wrong, we know what they are, they're as plain as the nose on your face, but we'll fix them'.