Kiwis rush for Lions tickets

The rush is on amongst New Zealanders to obtain tickets for the long-awaited 2005 British and Irish Lions tour, with just one week to go before the registration for the public ticket ballot closing - next week Friday, December 24.

To date 74,657 members of the public have registered for tickets, with an estimated 150,000 tickets available to the 11 Lions matches via the public ballot.

And it is not just the Test matches that are attracting huge interest. In Dunedin more than 16,000 tickets have been requested through the public ballot for the match between Otago and the Lions.

The Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) have also reported a threefold increase in the renewal of season tickets, compared with December last year.

About 16,600 seats, of the 24,500 tickets that available on public ballot for the Lions match at Carisbrook, have been "booked".

New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) Deputy Chief Executive Steve Tew urged fans to register in the coming week to avoid disappointment.

"Apart from hospitality packages and season passes, the ticket ballot is the only way to get your hands on tickets so it's best to register now," he said.

When registering, fans list in preferential order which Test matches and provincial games they want to buy tickets for.

"As far as registrations go, the most popular games are the three All Blacks Test matches followed by the Auckland, Wellington and New Zealand Maori matches," Tew said.

"If you pick some of the other provincial matches as your first preference you may be more successful in the ballot," he added.