With 50 days to go until the Rugby World Cup kicks off a further 55,000 tickets, including seats for both semi-finals, will go on general sale on Thursday. Despite the high cost of attending the biggest games, demand remains intense with 45,000 tickets sold in the past 72 hours.
This week’s initial ticket release was restricted to supporters who were unsuccessful in the original ballot but Category A seats remain for England’s game against Uruguay in Manchester, albeit at £250 apiece. Top-of-the-range tickets for the Twickenham semi-finals are also still available at £515 a pop.
Further seats may yet come on to the market, particularly at the Olympic Stadium in London where the capacity could yet increase slightly.
On average across all 13 venues, however, 90% of the estimated 2.45m tickets for the tournament have now been sold and Andy Cosslett, the chairman of England Rugby 2015, is hoping every stadium will be full.
For those unable to afford the most eye-watering ticket prices one possible option between now and September could be the organisers’ resale service on tickets.rugbyworldcup.com. So far 35,000 fans have chosen to sell their tickets to other rugby fans at face value, rather than release them to the secondary market.
The countdown to the tournament will also involve hundreds of rugby-themed events up and down the country as part of the so-called Festival of Rugby which will surround the main event. Next week the organisers are set to announce that their target of one million participants has already been reached. The nationwide trophy tour is also continuing, with the Webb Ellis Cup set to visit Hadrian’s Wall on Thursday following Wednesday’s trip up Scafell Pike, England’s highest peak.
Argentina are facing potential World Cup injury problems in their front row. With the tighthead Juan Figallo already ruled out of the tournament through injury, his deputy Ramiro Herrera also now requires a knee operation and could be unavailable. The Pumas, traditionally a major scrummaging threat, will have to revise their set-piece plans before back-to-back Tests against South Africa next month.