Slow ticket sales heading into Saturday's test

1.00pm

Sluggish tickets sales for the All Blacks Tri-Nations test against South Africa have led to claims Canterbury rugby fans have been over exposed to the game.

Canterbury Rugby Football Union (CRFU) said yesterday 6000 of the 35,000 seats were still available for the clash here on Saturday.

A CRFU spokesman would not be drawn on whether the public was suffering from rugby fatigue or deterred by seat prices but conceded the 2004 Springboks might not be the drawcard of years gone by.

The ticket prices range from $42 for an uncovered seat in the DB-stand to $80 for a covered seat in the No 3 stand.

Canterbury University social psychologist Dr Lucy Johnston said Cantabrians may have had too much of a good thing.

"There is lots of evidence that habituation of anything, even if it's something that is important to a nation, can become routine. It's possible there is an element of that happening."

When South Africa came to town in 1996, the 38,000 tickets for Lancaster Park, including the old embankment, were snapped up in a matter of hours, four weeks out from the match.

With the sustained success of the Crusaders in the Super 12, top-flight rugby matches are not a rarity in Christchurch.

The Bledisloe test at Jade Stadium in 2002 sold out seven weeks before kick-off, but with the rugby season these days stretching from February to December, sports fans can hardly take a breath between seasons.

- NZPA