All Blacks: Seats filling fast for Apia test

Apia Park has a capacity for 12,000 for those wanting to see All Blacks such as Aaron Smith taking on Manu Samoa. Photo / Greg Bowker

Many flights to Samoa sold out ahead of July 8 Pacific showdown.

Demand for the much anticipated All Blacks test in Samoa has reached fever pitch - with many of the stadium's stands filled up and all eight corporate boxes sold out.

Work to get Apia Park ready for the July 8 showdown between the All Blacks and Manu Samoa continues.

And part of that work includes eight new corporate suites - big enough for up to 24 people - which have already been snapped up for a cool 15,000 tala ($8000) each.

It is understood the New Zealand Rugby Union has not purchased a corporate suite for the test but had been allocated a number of tickets, as is usual for test matches.

The NZRU has a small number of tickets up for grabs to the public, at $170.

The Samoa Rugby Union - with local telecommunications company Bluesky - are in charge of tickets, which can only be bought in Apia and with no option to buy online.

A spokeswoman told the Herald although they could not give an exact number of tickets sold as of yesterday, almost all of the 4200 covered seats in the redeveloped grandstand and new stands to the east of the field had been filled.

Apia Park has a capacity of 12,000 people and 4000 tickets were assigned to general admission in a bid to get as many locals as possible to the match. At 40 tala ($20) they, too, are running out quickly.

The Samoa Rugby Union has been calling on locals to get to the historic match ever since tickets went on sale just over three weeks ago.

Interim chief executive Faleomavaega Vincent Fepulea'i said: "This is an amazing opportunity for Samoans to see our beloved Manu take on the world champions.

"We will be talking about this test for a very long time - so people need to make sure they get their tickets now."

Meanwhile, flights to Samoa days out from the big match might prove to be a test in itself, with main carriers Virgin Samoa and Air New Zealand having to put on extra flights to keep up with demand.

As of last night, many of Virgin's Saver fares were sold out for all flights two weeks out from the July 8 test.

Air New Zealand's July 6 flight from Auckland to Apia - the All Blacks' flight - has sold out.

All Blacks v Manu Samoa

• Wed, July 8, 2pm NZT (3pm local).
• Apia Park.
• 8 newly built corporate boxes, 15,000 tala ($8000), sold out.
• General admission tickets still available in Samoa.
• Small number of Black grandstand tickets, $170 each, available through NZ Rugby Union. Email queries to ticketing@nzrugby.co.nz.