Date announced for 2011 World Cup final

The 2011 Rugby World Cup final will be held in New Zealand on the weekend of October 22-23, the International Rugby Board (IRB) said.

The final will be played at Auckland's Eden Park, the same venue for the inaugural World Cup decider in 1987.

A decision on the exact day of the final will be made during this year's World Cup, to be held in France from September 7 to October 20.

The IRB said it was still discussing the possibility of reducing the number of competing teams from 20 to 16 to avoid one-sided matches between mismatched teams.