Richard Loe: When it comes to PR the NZRU fails the test

I do not think it will make a great difference to the All Blacks if the Lions ticketing issue runs its course and we end up with an over-sized Lions contingent at our test matches - as I think we will. It won't be great for New Zealand as a whole but I don't think it will affect the All Blacks' performance.

As players, you do hear the crowd but I would compare to it the wind, the rain and the sun. It's a factor, something you have to play with or against. It doesn't put you off your game. If it does, you shouldn't be there. People often used to say to me that certain crowds were daunting but I never used to hear them. It's not like they're all going to jump the fence and come onto the field.

Having said that, I do think the NZRU is presiding over a PR disaster when it comes to test tickets. Not just because touted tickets could end up in the hands of Lions supporters. I'd be more worried about the effect on ordinary rugby people. Why are these tickets being touted? Because the prices are high to begin with and ordinary people have figured that they can get even more for them.

Why are the prices high - up to $300 for a test ticket? Because the NZRU has high costs, sure, but they also want to make some money. How can you blame ordinary people for doing what the NZRU does?

I mean, the situation now is that many people think the NZRU has turned its back on them anyway. I'd question how much loyalty they feel to the NZRU, as opposed to the All Blacks. As a former player, I felt the pinch myself. When I retired from rugby, I bought a block of five family seats - two adults, three kids - seats at Jade Stadium. So when I found out that I could not have those seats for the Lions' test, I decided then I would give them up.

I know a 9-year-old who has a ticket to go to the test. He put in for the ballot and got one. But how is a 9-year-old to go to a test match by himself? It's ludicrous.

You can't book seats as a group at these test matches. We all have to go singly or double - no groups any more. Crazy. I know of two British people who got tickets for the Christchurch test --because they asked two New Zealanders who didn't care about rugby to enter the ballot on their behalf.

When you hear stories like that, is it any wonder some people are more interested in the money than loyalty - because that's what the NZRU is giving them as an example.

Believe it or not, I do feel a bit sorry for the NZRU. No matter what they do, they will get it wrong in someone's eyes. But I think there had to have been a better way than angering people who have traditionally, year in year out, gone to test matches and bought season tickets. Why sideline your biggest supporters?

As for the story about 60,000 unsold tickets for the Otago and Southland games, I think that it's about price again. Even though some of the midweek tickets are cheaper, there has been so much talk about high prices that most people from this part of the world are figuring it will cost too much. Most of us down here tend to go to these things as a family or a group and, by the time you get to Dunedin and Invercargill and have all the associated costs, it will amount to well into four figures.

All I know is that if they did it the old way - selling the tickets through rugby clubs to rugby people - those games would be sold out.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY