Hurricanes ticket confusion sorted out

Hurricanes rugby fans rest easy, tickets for the Super 14 match against the Cheetahs in New Plymouth go on sale on Wednesday.

There had been some confusion about when the tickets for the afternoon match at Yarrow Stadium on Saturday, March 7, would be available.

Tickets for the Hurricanes' other six home games - all in Wellington - went on sale at the weekend and Taranaki fans could find no mention of the New Plymouth game on the Hurricanes website or through Ticketmaster.

The New Plymouth sales will, however, be through Ticketdirect, 0800 4 tickets, the TSB Showplace and information centres in Stratford and Hawera.

Hurricanes communications manager Sam Rossiter-Stead cleared up the confusion yesterday.

"Ticket sales for Westpac Stadium go through Ticketmaster. It was the Taranaki union's decision to go through their ticket provider - Ticketdirect," he said.

The 2.30pm kickoff in New Plymouth is family-friendly.

"Children will be able to get in free, provided they are with an adult," New Plymouth District Council manager venues Paul Nisbet said.

"There's a Kids Go Free promotion available. That means an adult can buy a $15 package, which gets them a general admission ticket plus they can take up to two children under the age of 14 with them. When purchasing the ticket, the buyer will have to ask for tickets for the children who need a match ticket to get into the game."

The council will run a free bus shuttle service from the central city on match day. "It will be the same service that ran last year for the All Blacks test match where we had about 5000 people, roughly 20 per cent of the crowd, travelling to the game on the shuttle buses," he said.

Ten buses will run a continual loop from Ariki St to Yarrow Stadium from 12.30pm until kickoff and will return fans from Tukapa St near the Maratahu St inter-section after the game,

Free parking will be provided in the Carrington/Vivian St carpark behind The Mill and also for those who take their cars out of the Downtown and Centre City carparks after 4pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News