The Olympic Stadium in London will host five matches at the 2015 World Cup, with only two club rugby grounds selected among the 13 venues.

Re-construction work on the Olympic venue, which will become Premier League club West Ham’s stadium in 2016, is likely to be halted for the tournament.

With a capacity of 54,000, the stadium will stage four pool matches and host the bronze-medal match.

“It will ignite some memories and hopefully spark a few new ones too,” International Rugby Board chief executive Brett Gosper said.

The tournament opens on September 18 with England taking on an Oceania qualifying team, which is likely to be Fiji, at Twickenham.

The home of English rugby will be the busiest ground – with 10 games including two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final – followed by Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, which has eight fixtures including the other two quarter-finals.

But the only rugby clubs to get matches are Exeter and Gloucester.

By contrast, eight football stadiums will be used for rugby – Wembley and the home grounds of Aston Villa, Brighton, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester City, Milton Keynes Dons and Newcastle.

Organisers defended the decision to shun traditional rugby grounds in favour of larger football venues.

“We have … worked hard with all stakeholders to deliver a match schedule that is fair and balanced for all teams and that will provide the stage for the world’s finest players from 20 nations to perform to the best of their ability during a six week festival of world class rugby,” IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset said.