Union sends fans online for semi tickets

Computers, rather than queues, look to be the way to secure a ticket for Friday night's Chiefs home game against the Hurricanes.

The Chiefs narrowly beat the Brumbies in Hamilton on Friday to secure this week's home semifinal as Super 14 second qualifiers.

Tickets are expected to be snapped up early, with both Chiefs and Waikato season pass holders getting first dibs on sales tomorrow morning, before the public get the chance on Wednesday.

Between 5000 to 10,000 tickets are expected to be taken up by season pass holders, leaving between 15,000 and 20,000 for the public.

Chiefs marketing manager Pat Mellsop said the most efficient way for punters to get a ticket was online.

"This is where we expect to get hit the most. Ticketek process something like 1000 tickets a minute so online is definitely the way to go."

Organisers have put a limit of 20 tickets per person to stop large scale purchases. The game is expected to bring millions of dollars to Hamilton as a city, as not only the union, but restaurants, hotels, bars and taxis make the most of a home semifinal.

Mr Mellsop was reluctant to put a figure on the financial benefits of a home semi but an economic impact report after the city's first test match found "multi millions" had been brought in.

And research had proven domestic matches even more lucrative, he said.

"It's huge, it's really good for the city."

Hamilton's Fraser High School and Te Awamutu College were told today they would play the curtain-raiser, which begins at 5.35pm.

Ticket prices had risen slightly for this week's game as the New Zealand Rugby Union had paid the visiting team a fee for qualifying for the semifinal, while the home team takes all the ticket sales.

Mr Mellsop said they purposely delayed the selling of the tickets to allow sufficient staff to organise the event.