Fans rush to get Rugby World Cup tickets

Rugby New Zealand chief executive Martin Snedden. Photo / Richard Robinson

About 70,000 Rugby World Cup tickets have been applied for in the first two and a half hours since sales opened to the public.

Ticket sales for members of the public started at 9am today, letting New Zealanders and fans abroad apply for venue and team pool packs.

Spokesman Mike Jaspers said applications for 20,000 packs had been made, which translated to about 70,000 tickets.

About 750,000 out of 1.65 million tickets will be on sale during this first phase, which ends May 21.

Prices for the packs range from $1720 for the best seats at five matches in Auckland to $60 ($30 for a child) for the cheapest seats at two matches in Whangarei, Napier, Nelson or Invercargill.

Tickets are not given out on a first-come-first-served basis, but will be allocated in May.

It was an "encouraging start" and the ticketing system was holding up despite the strong interest, Mr Jaspers said.

Pack applications were released to members of the New Zealand rugby community last week, who will also be given first priority when the applications are processed. A third of the publicly available packs have been set aside for New Zealand players, officials and administrators involved in the game.

More than 50,000 fans from more than 100 countries have pre-registered to apply for venue and team pool packs since the official launch of the ticketing programme for RWC 2011 on March 30.

The figures include 20,000 overseas fans, living in countries such as Barbados, Botswana, China, Colombia, Egypt, Estonia, Iceland, Mongolia, Mauritius, Norway, Puerto Rico and Qatar. About 30,000 New Zealand fans have also pre-registered. The bulk of fans outside New Zealand come from the UK, Australia, Ireland, France, USA, South Africa and Canada.

Rugby New Zealand CEO Martin Snedden said the rest of the world knows that RWC 2011 is going to be a special event so New Zealand fans will be able to take advantage of the first phase of ticketing.

Official travel packages have been responsible for the sale of 85,000 tickets. One official travel agent in England has reported sales nearly 40 per cent up on those over the same period for Rugby World Cup 2007 in France.

Mr Snedden said the first phase of ticketing is the best chance for fans to secure the seats they want.

- NZ HERALD STAFF, NEWSTALK ZB