Fiji should boycott the Rugby World Cup if New Zealand refuses to lift a ban on players linked to the military regime, the Pacific nation's Olympic committee says.

Fiji claims some of its top players will be absent from the tournament, due to sanctions which bar Fijians connected to the country's military regime travelling to New Zealand.

Fiji Olympic Committee president Vidhya Lakhan said the ban amounted to political interference in team selection and should be challenged by the International Rugby Board (IRB).

"If Fiji cannot send its best team to take part in the World Cup, then we should consider boycotting the World Cup," he stated in a video posted on Wednesday on the committee's website.

"Whoever we select must be allowed to take part in the World Cup, which is an IRB event. It is not a New Zealand event."

He said the IRB should consider relocating Fiji's World Cup games to another country, if New Zealand refuses to lift the ban before the tournament starts on September 9.

The Fiji Rugby Union, however, has said the Olympic committee had no right to speak up on a matter it was not involved in.

"They have never really consulted us," Fiji Rugby Union chief executive Keni Dakuidreketi told Radio New Zealand on Thursday.

"They have never really had anything to do with the preparation for the World Cup and I'm not quite sure what angle they are coming from.

"We were annoyed with that sort of unsolicited statement coming from an organisation that has nothing to do with our World Cup preparation."

Dakuidreketi said the rugby union had written to the IRB, expressing its concerns about the travel ban, and was still awaiting an official response.

Meanwhile, IRB chief executive Mike Miller remained positive about the situation, telling the same radio station on Thursday he was confident Fiji's best players would take the field.

"It's clearly a sensitive issue," he said.

"It really doesn't help to play this out in public and so, at this point in time, we have no comment to make except to say discussions will continue and hopefully things will be resolved."

Comments from New Zealand's foreign affairs and Rugby World Cup minister Murray McCully last month make a compromise appear unlikely.

"I'm mystified as to why we need to spell out a clearer message - banned means banned," McCully said on the Fiji Village website.

"If you're part of the military, you're not coming; if you're part of the government, if you're a regime appointee, you don't get to come."

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