Little interest in third test tickets

Tickets for the third All Blacks-Lions test on Saturday are still available on online auction site TradeMe, but bidding suggests interest is waning now the home side has won the series.

Of 12 lots for sale on the site yesterday afternoon, only four had bids.

Many sellers were asking little more than the face value for the Eden Park test tickets.

Two people told the Herald part of the reason they were auctioning their tickets was because the series was decided.

"The fact they [the Lions] haven't put up such a great performance has deterred from the attraction," said an Auckland high school teacher selling a terraces ticket.

The man, who did not want to be named, said he would probably go to the game because he was unlikely to make a profit off the ticket.

He had received just one bid in two days, for $1 more than the ticket's $100 face value.

"I would've sacrificed the ticket if the price had been right," he said.

The man said if the third test was the series clincher, "that ticket would've been worth gold".

A woman, who also declined to be named, said she was selling three tickets on behalf of people who could no longer go to the match.

She said they would have probably gone if the game was the decider and the weather forecast was better.

TradeMe general manager Sam Morgan said tickets were sold for high prices at the beginning of the series because people thought they were scarce.

But he said the situation changed when fans realised the tickets were still available.

"It seems to be selling is now because they don't want to go."

The fact that tickets were being sold for less than their face value showed people were not interested in attending the match, he said.

But the New Zealand Rugby Union denied interest in the series was waning.

Deputy chief executive Steve Tew said the test was sold out and the number of tickets for sale was small in comparison to the venue's capacity.