Search on for elusive tickets

The ticket frenzy for England's visit to Lansdowne Road on Sunday, February 27th is heating up with the going rate to purchase online ranging from €400 for the terrace to €800 (and rising) for the stand - more than eight times the face value.

Tickets for internationals are distributed by the IRFU to the provinces, who in turn supply the clubs. Union dignitaries, playing and coaching staff, sponsors and the visiting union also receive an allocation share.

The English RFU get 5,000 to 6,000, just over 10 per cent of the capacity.

It is a poorly kept secret that clubs use their international tickets to raise revenue via corporate functions. A leading Division One club receives 60 stand and 200 terrace tickets. The IRFU state that to purchase a ticket one must be a member of a rugby club, but at least 50 of these will be sold off to the corporate market.

"It depends how this is done," stated IRFU spokesman John Redmond. "There is an acceptance if clubs use tickets for the right purposes, like sponsorship practices, and if they are for the benefit of that club."

Several thousand tickets have found their way on to British and even American-based websites.

One website posts hospitality rates where a punter must pay over €1,300 for a match ticket, including lunch and drinks before a post-match reception at a local hotel.

The IRFU only caters for 1,000 hospitality patrons but independent corporate groups set up similar, in some cases superior, facilities in high-market venues around the Lansdowne Road area, with food, drink, match tickets and guest speakers included in the package.

Before this year's autumn internationals the provinces' allocation was reduced by 600 tickets in total, with Leinster taking the biggest hit of 300, while the others lost five per cent of their normal share. The IRFU did so to increase revenue and stymie a rampant black market. The Leinster Branch still get over 15,000 tickets for each home Six Nations match in 2005.

In contrast to the current going rate (which rises considerably once they reach the street touts' hands on the match weekend) the union distributed tickets for this match back in November with that month's friendly against the USA combined in the package.

Then, the most exclusive stand ticket was €100, with the least expensive goal-line seats going for €78, while terracing ranged between €35 to €42.

Meanwhile, soon to be retired Ulster flanker Andy Ward has been unveiled as Belfast Harlequins director of rugby from the start of next season on a three-year contract. The Kiwi-born former Irish international replaces Andre Bester who departs to English club Rotherham. DC Gillespie will assume the official coaching role until June 1st when Ward takes over.

A succession of injuries seem to have caught up with the Ulster captain who announced he will retire at the end of the current Celtic League campaign.

Irish under-21 scrumhalf Cillian Willis goes before the Six Nations disciplinary committee today in Dublin after being sent off in the defeat to Scotland last Friday by referee Jean-Pierre Mattheu. Also, in front of the three-man committee, chaired by Jeff Blackett (England), is Italian number eight Sergio Parisse.