DHL signs up to Rugby World Cup

KICK OFF: Former All Black Grant Fox punts a ball from Auckland's Sky Tower to mark DHL's sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup.

Global freight company DHL has signed on as the Rugby World Cup's fourth worldwide partner and official logistics provider.

The announcement was made at the top of Auckland's SkyTower this afternoon.

All Black legend Grant Fox braved the windy heights to mark the sponsorship by punting a rugby ball from the observation deck.

The ball was tethered to the tower to prevent any possibility of injuries on the ground.

DHL takes its place alongside Heineken, Emirates, ANZ and Mastercard on the top tier of sponsorship.

The company will also have exclusive rights to distribute the two million tournament tickets and will handle logistics for all 20 Rugby World Cup teams to and from, as well as within, New Zealand.

DHL Express' senior vice-president for Oceania Gary Edstein said the company  which operates in 220 countries  is attracted to the global reach of next year's tournament.

''We saw this as a great opportunity to align ourselves with a global event  it'll be the biggest global sporting event next year.

''Rugby is a global sport and we're a global business and to me it made a lot of sense to align with rugby.''

He would not reveal how much DHL had paid for the sponsorship but said the amount was ''significant''.

Rugby World Cup Limited commercial director Huw Morgan said rugby is played in 135 countries and estimated viewership of the tournament to be four billion people.

Edstein expects the return on investment to flow down through the entire DHL group, including DHL Express, its global air and ocean freighting business, contract logistics operation, and domestic express and mail joint venture with NZ Post.

He said the New Zealand brands of CourierPost, Pace, Contract Logistics and Roadstar would all be able to take advantage of the Rugby World Cup sponsorship.

DHL held naming rights for the 2005 British Lions Tour which Edstein said was ''a huge success''.

''It was one of the best sponsorships we've ever done. Off the back of that we had the connection with the

IRB and also IMG, so it was a natural opportunity to do this on a grand scale.

''This one obviously is much, much bigger and the rights we've got for the movement of the freight are going to be quite lucrative, and also the ticket distribution.''

- BusinessDesk