STADIUM OF LIGHTS:Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth
(Taranaki province on New Zealand’s north island)
Capacity: 26,000
IRELAND’S first match of the World Cup takes place here, against the US Eagles, with the unfortunate timing of it being the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
The place already holds bad vibes due to Jamie Heaslip’s red card last summer, after just 15 minutes, for an over aggressive approach to Richie McCaw’s antics, while Ronan O’Gara spent 10 minutes in the cooler before half-time.
It ended in a nine tries to four, 66-28 defeat.
Nor is the place shaping up to be much of RWC venue either as ticket sales are not going well for this or the two other fixtures (USA v Russia on September 15th and Wales v Namibia on September 26th).
The locals don’t appear too interested, it seems, as New Plymouth District Council Rugby World Cup manager Jenny Mills confirmed, “It is not something we didn’t want to do – but the need to drum up local support has developed.
“The biggest hint we are getting is that the majority of sales are to overseas visitors or people from outside the region. The local market hasn’t hit yet.”
RWC organisers hope to sell 85 per cent of their 1.6 million tickets but the problem in New Zealand is people don’t attend games in poor weather. Only 16,000 showed up at Eden Park – the final venue with a 60,000 capacity – for Friday’s Super XV play off between the Auckland Blues’, and their host of All Blacks, victory over the NSW Waratahs.
