Lions will know they are in the Boks’ den
THE Springboks will play the British & Irish Lions before an army of green and gold next July rather than the sea of red of 2009, provided South African supporters take advantage of the ticket allocation that this time is skewed in favour of the home country.
This was the good news from SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux yesterday when he held a media briefing on the sale of tickets for the much-anticipated return of the Lions, who 11 years ago enjoyed massive support in the stands from their touring fans.
Roux said that by pre-arranged agreement with their Lions partners, the South African market will be favoured for tickets, and that tickets can be bought via a ballot system from 10am on September 2 to 11.59pm on September 16.
“This is the home of the Rugby World Cup champions, the Springboks, and the Lions will know they are in our den,” Roux said.
“More tickets will be available to home fans than to overseas fans, but it is critical for South Africans to note that there is only one route to secure tickets – by entering the ballot on www. lionstour2021.co.za”
Roux said the introduction of four tiers of pricing for all eight of the matches – unlike the one-price-fitsall approach of 2009 – is a significant difference from the last time the Lions visited. Ticket prices for matches against the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium, the Sharks at Kings Park and the Bulls at Loftus range in price from R250 to R600.
Tickets for mid-week matches against a SA Invitational team in Port Elizabeth and against SA A in Nelspruit are cheaper still, ranging from R100 to R350.
The cheapest Test-match ticket is R500 – less than the price of a ticket for a 2019 Springbok Test – and increases to R1 250 and R2 000, while the best seats in the house will cost R3 000.
“We have provided a range of price points for the public and, for instance, a family of four will be able to watch a match against one of the franchise teams for R1 000 in total, and for as little as R400 for a match in PE or Nelspruit,” Roux said.
“This is a once-in-a-decade commercial opportunity and we won’t shy away from acknowledging that we have to maximise the commercial opportunity that the extraordinary demand offers.
“At the same time, we have been sensitive to our South African fans and have some very affordable prices to watch the best of our local teams play the Lions.”