70,000 Rugby World Cup tickets bought

Sports fans have snapped up 70,000 tickets for the Rugby World Cup in the first two and a half hours of sale today.

That represents 20,000 packs for venue and team matches.

Spokesman Mike Jaspers said it was an encouraging start to the global public phase of ticket sales.

One third of the publicly-available packs have been set aside for members of the New Zealand rugby community involved in the competition and they will be given first priority when the applications are processed. Those packs were released last week.

Organisers said more than 50,000 fans from 100 countries pre-registered before today's opening of online ticket applications.

This includes 20,000 fans around the world in countries as diverse as as Barbados, Botswana, China, Colombia, Egypt, Estonia, Iceland, Mongolia, Mauritius, Norway, Puerto Rico and Qatar.

About 30,000 New Zealand fans have pre-registered, organisers said.

The bulk of fans outside New Zealand come from Britain, Australia, Ireland, France, United States, South Africa and Canada.

Ticket applications open online at 9am today and close on May 21.

"This is a fantastic response," said Martin Snedden, chief executive for the tournament organiser, Rugby New Zealand 2011.

"[It] shows how popular Rugby World Cup has become around the world," said Mr Snedden.

"The rest of the world knows that RWC 2011 is going to be a special event so I urge Kiwi fans to take advantage of this first phase of ticketing."

The strong initial interest from global fans underlines news last week that 85,000 tickets have been sold already through official travel packages.

One official travel agent in England reported sales were nearly 40 per cent more on those over the same period for the 2007 tournament in France.

Mr Snedden said the first phase of ticketing was the best chance for fans to secure the seats they wanted.

"[Today] will be a special day for fans," he said.

"This is the day fans can really embrace RWC 2011 and decide just how they are going to take part in what will be the biggest sporting event this country has seen."

Today also marks 500 days until the opening match between hosts New Zealand and Tonga at Auckland's redeveloped Eden Park, which is due to reopen ahead of schedule this year.

The Webb Ellis Cup will be on show in Wellington to mark the occasion.

"We hope fans take the opportunity to get up close to rugby's greatest prize and take away a wonderful memory," said Mr Snedden.

- NZPA, NEWSTALK ZB