Bay of Plenty Rugby Union trying to increase crowds

The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union will hold a public meeting today to seek ways of getting more people to attend rugby matches at Rotorua International Stadium.

The meeting, at Rotorua's Convention Centre, will discuss the state of the game in the Central Bay of Plenty sub-union, which encompasses the now-defunct Rotorua and Galatea sub-unions, chief executive Paul Abbot says.

Poor crowd numbers at the International Stadium for Super 12 and NPC matches in the past two years have seen the region's premier ground missing out on Super 12 matches next season.

The city wants to host a game during the Lions tour in 2005, which is expected to be very popular given England's World Cup triumph.