$40m cup ticket sales in six hours

Thomas Mengel is working as a DJ with Radio Ponsonby on Sunday mornings to help pay for a ticket to next year's Rugby World Cup final. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Fans here and abroad snaffled 90,000 Rugby World Cup match tickets in the first six hours of sale yesterday.

Five hundred days before the World Cup kicks off, fans got the first chance to buy venue and team pool packs online.

And once they started buying, they really started buying.

The bumper sales mean next year's competition - with sales worth $40 million so far - has already outgrossed the 2005 Lions tour, Rugby World Cup spokesman Mike Jaspers said yesterday.

But for one enterprising schoolboy, the rush to save enough money for a seat at the October 2011 final goes on.

St Heliers 8-year-old Thomas Mengel has been working frantically since his story was featured in the Herald this month.

Thomas has so far earned about $120 of the minimum $390 required to fulfill his dream of attending the Eden Park final.

His mother, Annette Mengel, said the youngster had been flat stick, working shifts at a Ponsonby radio station, working in his uncle's shop and even cleaning cars.

He had received a number of offers of cash when his story was first published, but Mrs Mengel said she had put the brakes on Thomas receiving charity.

"We don't want him to accept money. A lot of people want to give him money, but we have said no."

But while Thomas is still saving, other more affluent rugby fans yesterday got the opportunity to secure their tickets.

Pack applications were released to members of the New Zealand rugby community last week, and they will be given first priority when the applications are processed.

A third of the publicly-available packs have been set aside for New Zealand players, game officials and administrators.

Mr Jaspers told the Herald demand had been strong since sales opened at 9am.

About 25,000 applications for venue or team packs were received when sales began yesterday morning.

More than 50,000 fans from more than 100 countries pre-registered to apply for venue and team pool packs following the launch of the ticketing programme on March 30.

About 20,000 overseas fans make up the 50,000 registrations, including rugby fans resident in Barbados, Botswana, China, Colombia, Egypt, Estonia, Iceland, Mongolia, Mauritius, Norway, Puerto Rico and Qatar.

The bulk of fans outside New Zealand come from the UK, Australia, Ireland, France, the US, South Africa and Canada.

About 85,000 tickets have been sold in official travel packages, with one English travel agent reporting sales nearly 40 per cent up on those over the same period for the Rugby World Cup 2007 in France.

Meanwhile, the Rugby World Cup went on display at Wellington train station where fans got the chance to take a close look at rugby's ultimate prize.

The gold Webb Ellis Cup was put up at the train station foyer to mark 500 days until the tournament kicks off in New Zealand, and the first day of ticket sales.

Selected fans were also clad in jerseys of the 18 official Rugby World Cup team jerseys and posed for an official photo.

Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully also hosted a "500-days-out" celebration in Parliament's Grand Hall last night.