‘Most expensive ever’ Wales tickets sold out
WALES’ most expensive Six Nations tickets in history have completely sold out.
Top-priced tickets for Wales’ two home games at the Principality Stadium during this year’s tournament were priced at £110.
The first home game of the Six Nations, against England, takes place in the third round of the tournament, after Warren Gatland’s side kick off with their first game of the Championship away to France on February 1.
But despite the three-figure cost of some of the tickets, it’s now been confirmed that tickets to both of Wales’ home games, against England on February 23 and Ireland on March 16, sold out last month. No tickets for either match had reached public sale.
The tickets for both home games range from category A at £110 to category E at £40.
The top-tier price tag is a £10 increase on the most expensive England ticket for the equivalent fixture in 2017, and a £15 rise on what supporters were charged for the best seats in the house against Ireland the same season.
With England and Ireland such big draws, particularly with all three sides looking pretty evenly matched heading into February, the Welsh Rugby Union opted to charge £15 more in each of the top three categories than they did for the Scotland and France Six Nations matches last year.
On the other side of the spectrum, the cheapest available ticket for both matches this year was frozen at £40 as part of the WRU’s pricing strategy, which is in place until 2020.
The WRU introduced its first £100 ticket for the England fixture in the 2017 Six Nations, while it’s believed around 50% of tickets for this year’s tournament are in Category B, which is priced at £100.
A WRU spokesperson said: “Historically, home matches against England and Ireland in the Six Nations don’t reach public sale and, if they do, they sell out quickly.
“As part of the WRU constitution member clubs are offered first refusal on all international rugby matches at Principality Stadium, outside of debenture holders and official partners.
“So our message is always loud and clear, if you’re looking for Six Nations tickets, contact your local club. The general public feeling that ‘Wales tickets are hard to come by’ all originates from these traditional Six Nations matches, which are steeped in history and always much anticipated.
“But the beauty of our fixture list this year is that Wales are playing three Championship sides in Cardiff outside the tournament. This started with Scotland in November and culminates with England and then Ireland as part of Rugby World Cup preparation in the summer.”
The WRU has an official resale marketplace, Seatwave, where clubs are permitted to sell on up to 10% of their allocation on the site.
Frustratingly, fans can find tickets there for largely inflated prices, with tickets for Wales v England being sold for more than £1,000 in November.
The WRU has previously said: “We do not place tickets directly on to Seatwave but this is endorsed as a safe, secure service marketplace for our supporters that is supplied from official sources.
“Clubs are permitted to sell 10% of their allocation with Seatwave.
“We believe this partnership is the best way of protecting the consumer from people selling fraudulent tickets and keeping money raised from tickets in the game.”