Crusaders expect 'house full' signs
They may have sold only about half of the stadium's capacity by Wednesday, but Crusaders officials expect the 'house full' signs to go up for Saturday's Super Rugby preliminary play-off encounter with the Reds.
Tickets for the Super Rugby Crusaders versus encounter Reds, effectively a quarterfinal, went on sale on Tuesday.
Ticket sales reached the 9,500 mark on Wednesday, prompting officials to claim the match will be a sell-out at the 18,000-seater stadium.
"We are delighted with the support Crusader fans are showing," said Crusaders Chief Executive Hamish Riach.
"I know the team gets a huge lift when they run out to a loyal and boisterous home crowd so we encourage fans to come out in support of the boys on Saturday.
"With just under 8,000 tickets still available , a good weather forecast predicted we are hoping that Crusader fans will come out in force."
With both sides determined to secure a place in the semifinals, it will be an intense, physical and passionate battle.
The two sides have previously met on 19 occasions, with the Crusaders coming out the victors winning 68 percent of the battles.
The Crusaders have made the semifinals and finals on 14 occasions since Super Rugby went professional in 1996.
The Reds in comparison have only made the latter rounds of the competition on four occasions.
One of which was the 2011 Final, where the Reds pipped the Crusaders at the final hurdle to win the 2011 championship.
Tickets are still available and start from as little as NZ$21 for an adult, NZ$10 for children or NZ$29 for one adult and one child on a Take a Kid to Footy ticket.
Tickets can be purchased through Ticket Direct (0800 224 224 or ticketdirect.co.nz) or The Warehouse.
