AUSTRALIA will play New Zealand in July in front of the biggest crowd at a rugby union international for 22 years, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said yesterday.
The ARU has predicted a capacity crowd of 98,000 will fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 26th to watch the traditional rivals face each other in a TriNations clash.
"The combination of general public, member union, corporate and hospitality tickets sold already indicates we will have close to a record 100,000 watching," ARU - managing director John O'Neill said in a statement.
ARU spokesman Greg Thomas said the latest batch of 26,000 tickets went on sale yesterday and all but 3,000 were sold on the day, guaranteeing a record crowd for a rugby union test in Australia.
It would be the biggest rugby, union attendance in the world since - a record 105,000 people watched the test match between Scotland and Wales in 1975, Thomas said.
In a break with previous practice, the ARU switched the match against the All Blacks to Melbourne, a city with no rugby union tradition, in a move aimed at increasing revenue from ticket sales.
