New Zealand Prime Minister John Key hopes Christchurch can still host rugby World Cup matches as planned later this year despite the deadly earthquake that hit the city on Tuesday.

New Zealand's second largest city is one of the venues for the tournament scheduled from September 9 to October 23 tournament, and scheduled to host 7 matches including England and Australia's openers and two of the quarter-finals at Christchurch Stadium.

The earthquake, the second major tremor to hit Christchurch in five months, killed at least 75 people and left roads buckled and buildings toppled across the city of 400,000.

Kay told a news conference in Wellington this afternoon that they would like to host the Rugby World Cup in Christchurch as they intend to.

Key added that one of the issues might be accommodation as there has been substantial damage to hotels.

Rugby World Cup organizers earlier said it was too early and would be inappropriate to speculate whether the quake would have an impact on the showpiece event.

Tournament communications manager, Mike Jaspers said that at this time RWC 2011 must take a backseat while Christchurch deals with the aftermath of this tragedy.
 
The governing International Rugby Board issued a similar statement calling for the focus to remain on the emergency response in the city where the search for survivors in the rubble continued on Wednesday.


Story by: Selina Navuso