Bids run hot for Lions Wellington test tickets

A pair of tickets for Wellington's Lions-All Blacks test is fetching bids of up to $2600 on the trademe.co.nz website but the New Zealand Rugby Union is trying to clamp down on ticket scalpers.

Chief executive Steve Tew says "initiatives" are under way, but their precise nature is "best kept to us".

The tour will begin in Rotorua on June 4. The union used a computerised ballot system to allocate tickets. The draw was completed this week for all 11 tour matches.

Those whose names were drawn are being contacted by the rugby union, and all tickets are expected to have been distributed by early April.

Mr Tew said the security measures had been designed to defeat "opportunists ... who haven't entered the [ticket balloting] process fairly".

He said the tickets carried "clear terms and conditions", and anyone who violated those would have to settle for watching the match from home.

However, Mr Tew appreciated the rugby union was fighting an uphill battle against the scalpers.

"In the end there's only so much we can do."

On Trade Me, two tickets for the Lions' Wellington test match, offered with an autographed Jonah Lomu jersey, had attracted bids of $2620 by yesterday afternoon.

On the site, ticket seller Brewster4 - a Wellington man named Terry - argues that the tickets are being sold at their face value, with the Jonah jersey pushing the price up. The bidding started at $1500.

Lawyer Frank Godinet was not aware of any legislation under which scalpers could be prosecuted.

"If you come into a ticket by paying more than the face value, then so what?"