Last Cup ticket sales please officials

Eden Park. Photo / Getty Images

The remaining tickets for the Rugby World Cup group stages have gone on sale, but organisers are not yet disclosing exactly how well sales had gone.

Tickets went on sale at 9am on the official tournament website, but Rugby World Cup 2011 spokesman Mike Jaspers would not disclose how many tickets had been sold this morning.

"We've had a busy morning, [but] we're not going to provide an update of numbers just yet," he said. "We don't want to get into an hour by hour, blow-by-blow account about how things have gone.

"We've had a very busy first hour and a bit, and we're still selling tickets, so it has been a good start.

"We're pretty happy with how things have gone this morning."

Top tickets still available

Last week organisers said 900,000 tickets - worth $200 million - had been sold for the tournament, two-thirds of the target in ticket numbers, and three-quarters of the target revenue.

Almost 700,000 tickets remain for the event, which begins September 9.

Tickets to the knockout matches will go on sale tomorrow, also from 9am on the tournament site.

Punters are being urged to get in quick as the demand is expected to be huge and tickets will be released on a first-come, first-served basis.

Adult and children's tickets will be available to all 40 pool matches, which will be spread around the country.

Some of the cheapest adult tickets are in the standing areas on the terraces and grass embankments of the stadiums; one of those will cost $31, or $15 for a child, but tickets that cheap are available for only about 17 games.

You can still get a bargain for many of the other matches, with some of the lower-priced tickets going for $41 and $51.

You can see Fiji go up against Samoa at Eden Park for $41; top-grade tickets to that game would cost you $123.

But other A-grade tickets are a little steeper, with the New Zealand versus France match at Eden Park costing $460, the same as for the first match of the tournament, New Zealand versus Tonga.

A children's ticket to that encounter will set you back $61.

Tickets to the knockout games are expected to go quickly, with the cheapest priced at $97 for the bronze final.

The A-grade tickets are priced at from $358 for the bronze final, $491 for a quarter-final and almost $800 for a semi final.

Remaining tickets to the final were not readily available last night but may also be up for grabs.

Rugby roadshow begins

The rugby World Cup's warm up roadshow kicked off in Bluff today, with the William Webb Ellis Cup embarking on a four-week tour of the country.

The RWC 2011 Roadshow - a custom-designed truck housing the Webb Ellis Cup - opens out into a 72sq m "events centre" with interactive displays and videos on rugby World Cup history.

Today includes a trip, with the cup only, to Stewart Island's Half Moon Bay School, before the show heads north, travelling as far as Kaitaia.

During the roadshow, people will be able to have their photo taken with the Webb Ellis Cup.

A different World Cup nation will be profiled on each weekday and communities will be encouraged to adopt and support a visiting team.

Meanwhile, the last of the auditions for the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony took place at the weekend.

Dozens of people turned out in Auckland yesterday to show they've got what it takes to be a part of the group welcoming the world on the big night.

To buy tickets go to www.rugbyworldcup.com.