Beaumont confident Japan can drive World Cup ticket sales

(Reuters) - Taking the 2019 Rugby World Cup to Japan was a "small risk" but World Rugby chief Bill Beaumont is confident the country will engage its experience from hosting previous international sporting events to make it a commercial success. The 2015 World Cup in England was the most successful event in the sport's history, with an average of 98 percent of tickets sold across all venues. Japan's spirited World Cup run in England last year, when they beat South Africa but just missed out on making the last eight, has sparked the growing interest in rugby in the country but it remains firmly second tier of the game. With attendances dropping in the local Top League, though, concerns have been raised over the size of crowds that might be attracted to the 12 venues for Asia's first Rugby World Cup. "We don't come in with a stick and say you have to do it this way," Beaumont told the Kyodo news agency. "It's about trying to engage the local population, the local sports bodies, the local schools, whatever the professional team is in that area. "We need to try to work with them and get people to buy the tickets. We're not coming to a tier two nation, commercially. We're coming to a hugely successful, vibrant economic nation," he added. Beaumont felt that the governing body needed to take some risks in order for the sport to expand beyond its traditional heartland. "I think for too long we have stuck with the traditional countries that we go to, and it's incumbent on us to spread the (game)," he said. "In a way, it's a reward to Japan for all their contributions to rugby not only at the last World Cup, but throughout the years. We look at it as being a small risk coming here. "We look at it as being a small risk coming here." (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru)