WARNING GETS FANS IN ON TIME
FEARS thousands of fans could miss kick-off as Wales began their Six Nations campaign yesterday failed to materialise with spectators heeding warnings to arrive early.
While some fans reported waits of up to an hour at gates for the sell-out clash with Scotland – which brought a roaring 34-7 victory for the hosts – there was no repeat of the chaos which meant thousands missed the start of November’s match with Australia.
Heightened security measures introduced during the autumn internationals led to some fans facing lengthy queues at the Principality Stadium in spite of numerous warnings from the Welsh Rugby Union.
But spirits were high as fans arrived for yesterday’s tournament curtainraiser – and that was before a Leigh Halfpenny-inspired Wales obliterated Scotland in a victory which saw them bag a bonus point.
Despite queues less than half an hour before the match began, gates outside the stadium were empty in the minutes leading up to kick-off.
To avoid a repeat of delays, rugby bosses advised fans to arrive at the stadium well in advance of the start of the game with gates opening at 11.15am – a full three hours before kick-off.
Extra train services were also put on, along with city centre road closures to deal with an expected 100,000 people flooding into the Welsh capital to watch the game either in the stadium or in surrounding pubs and bars.
Speaking before the match, fans showed mixed emotions as they joined the queue with large crowds waiting outside gates two and three.
Alex Orr, 41, from Edinburgh said: “The queue always tends to move quickly at these things.”
He added: “I’m predicting Scotland will narrowly win by five points but I’m expecting a high-scoring game on both sides.”
Others were less confident joining the queue, with criticism on social media over waiting times at Gate One.
John Lewis, from Cardiff, said: “I’ve been going to the rugby here for years and I’ve never seen it so bad.”
Fellow Wales fan Kevin Amos said: “I’ve seen people queue like this for the train but not for the rugby.
“I’m staying at a hotel down the road and they said as long as I got here for 1.30pm it would be OK.”
Taking to Twitter some fans posted pictures of queues at Gate One in the build-up to the match.
Andrew Gardner said: “At gate one for an hour and still 30 mins to the entrance. All other gates are about half an hour to get in. This is ridiculous!”
Twitter user MuddyRhino said: “Gate One is chaos. Stuck in line presecurity for 30 mins. So much for getting here early. Real dampener on atmosphere.”
Rhys Knapman added: “It’s not safe having thousands of people stood with nowhere to go outside the gates... been waiting an hour already.”
A Principality Stadium spokesman said: “We would like to thank supporters of both Wales and Scotland for their responsible approach to accessing Principality Stadium and for heeding advice about arriving in good time.
“The overwhelming majority of the 74,169 crowd arrived at their seats in plenty of time to see Wales’ impressive performance against the Scots and created a tremendous atmosphere for a wonderful game.
“However, we would like to guard against any future complacency and reiterate that enhanced security measures are here to stay. Please note that early arrival at future NatWest 6 Nations games in Cardiff during this campaign, against Italy and France, will be equally important and please remember, the earlier you arrive, the quicker you’ll get in.”
The match is the first of three games to be hosted in Cardiff, with Wales taking on Italy on March 11 and France on March 17.