{"id":304750,"date":"2026-02-18T19:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304750\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T19:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:31:10","slug":"fans-fury-at-rugby-world-cup-seat-presale-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304750\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans\u2019 fury at Rugby World Cup seat presale \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-rugby\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-rugby\/\">World Rugby<\/a> has urged patience for those applying for tickets for the 2027 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/rugby-world-cup\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/rugby-world-cup\/\">Rugby World Cup<\/a> after many fans were left frustrated after tickets went on presale for the tournament in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/australia\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/australia\/\">Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The first batch of tickets was made available from midday Sydney time (1am on Wednesday in Ireland) when registered fans could secure a limited number of seats for games at the tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Fans vented on social media about technology issues that resulted in some users being booted out the site due to having \u201crestricted access\u201d. Other fans reported waiting several hours in the queue to get through to buy tickets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">One fan on Reddit called it \u201cthe worst ticketing sale I\u2019ve ever experienced\u201d. Another said it was \u201ca more harrowing experience\u201d than trying to get tickets for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/taylor-swift\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/taylor-swift\">Taylor Swift<\/a> concert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">World Rugby defended the system, saying it was \u201cperforming as intended\u201d during the presale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It said the system was \u201cdesigned to manage the high volumes of interest we typically see for Rugby World Cup, which can mean long wait times for some fans\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cRobust verification measures are in place to protect the integrity of the tournament and ensure tickets are secured by genuine fans. Maintaining secure access remains our priority,\u201d it said<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The presale is to continue until Wednesday, March 4th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">World Rugby said fans who did not create or activate their ticketing accounts in time would get another opportunity to buy tickets during the \u201capplication phase\u201d on a yet-to-be-announced date in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe application phase gives all fans the opportunity to apply for tickets. Where demand exceeds availability, a ballot process will take place. The ballot process ensures fans have an equal opportunity to purchase tickets. We will have further announcements on this process soon,\u201d World Rugby said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/ireland-rugby\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/ireland-rugby\/\">Ireland<\/a> are to play Portugal in Sydney on October 4th, 2027, then Scotland in Perth, Western Australia, on October 10th and finally Uruguay in Melbourne on October 17th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Rugby World Cup final is to take place on November 13th, 2027, at the Stadium Australia, Sydney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Rugby has urged patience for those applying for tickets for the 2027 Rugby World Cup after many&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[986,61,60,1449,3654,1255,112,6543,1448],"class_list":{"0":"post-304750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-ireland-rugby","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-rugby-world-cup","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-taylor-swift","16":"tag-world-rugby"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}