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Lions sell out Second test tickets gone in 18 minutes
Updated: Friday June 08, 2001 10:32 AM
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -- Tickets for the second test between Australia and the British and Irish Lions sold out in just 18 minutes, but the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said Friday it had no intention of switching to a bigger venue. The second test of the three game series will be played indoors on July 7 at Melbourne's Docklands Colonial Stadium, which has a capacity of 52,000. With British tourists, sponsors and clubs already promised most of the seats, only 14,000 tickets were left for the Australian public when they went on sale Thursday. The ARU said Friday it was surprised by the huge demand in Melbourne, where rugby is a minor sport compared to Australian Rules Football, but would not consider switching the match to the much larger 100,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). "We went with Colonial ahead of the MCG on a number of criteria, one of which was the commercial deal, another was the market research on awareness of the British Lions," an ARU spokesman said. "With the benefit of hindsight we might think 'gee maybe we could have done better' but Colonial is a fantastic stadium for rugby, it's a very intimate ground and we're happy to fill it." Tickets for the opening test between the Lions and Australia in Brisbane on June 30 also sold out in record time while tickets for the third and final test at Sydney's Olympic Stadium on July 14 have yet to go on sale. With the stadium being reconfigured after the Olympics, the ground's capacity has been slashed from 110,000 to just 69,000, but the ARU is trying to get some temporary seats installed. Bullock called up PERTH (Reuters) -- Scotland's Gordon Bullock has been called into the British and Irish Lions squad to cover for injured hooker Phil Greening. Lions manager Donal Lenihan said Friday Bullock would join the tourists before their next match in Townsville on Tuesday after Greening injured his knee in training Thursday. Greening had a scan Friday morning which revealed he had torn a ligament. The Englishman will remain with the team for at least another week to see how the injury responds to treatment before deciding whether to go home or stay on tour. "We're anxious for him to stay on but we can't really say what will happen until after he's been treated," Lenihan said. "He's been the life and soul of the tour party and the least he deserves is another week to see how it responds." Lenihan said Bullock was in the United States on holidays but had agreed to cancel his vacation to join the squad. Greening was vying with Welshman Robin McBryde for the replacement hooker position behind first choice Keith Wood of Ireland.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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