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Be part of the stadium of four million and experience a uniquely New Zealand rugby festival when the 2011 Rugby Word Cup comes to Wellington, New Zealand. Applications for tickets open on 27 April 2010. See below for latest announcements.

The International Rugby Board has announced the match schedule for the seventh Rugby World Cup, to be played in New Zealand from Friday 9 September to Sunday 23 October 2011.

The Rugby World Cup will be the largest global sporting event in 2011 and will kick off in Auckland when the host Nation New Zealand plays Tonga in a Pool A match.

The 48 matches that comprise the Tournament are scheduled across 13 venues in 13 cities: Auckland, North Shore (Auckland), Whangarei, Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill.

Applications for Venue and Team Pool Packs open at 9am on Tuesday, April 27 2010 (NZST) and close at 5pm on Friday, May 21 2010 (NZST).

2011 Rugby World Cup Pools
Pool A: New Zealand, France, Tonga, Canada, Japan
Pool B: Argentina, England, Scotland, Georgia, Play Off Winner
Pool C: Australia, Ireland, Italy, Russia, USA
Pool D: South Africa, Wales, Fiji, Samoa, Namibia

Rugby World Cup in Wellington
Wellington is to host seven World Cup matches at Wellington Regional Stadium in Thorndon (Westpac Stadium will be renamed Wellington Regional Stadium for the event.)

Wellington will host the defending cup holders South Africa against Wales in the first big game in the capital on Sunday 11 September 2011. Along with the All Blacks, Wellington will host pool matches featuring the Springboks, Wales, Fiji, Australia, Tonga and qualifiers from the Americas.

The weekend before the quarter-finals will also be a blockbuster – with France-Tonga on the Saturday and the All Blacks versus an Americas qualifier on the Sunday. This double-header will kick off a festival week in the Capital leading up to the quarters. The council will be pulling out all the stops to make sure fans have a memorable stay in the Capital.

All matches in Wellington will also be over the weekends, which is good for crowd numbers and will give fans time to recover.

The Wellington City Council estimates pool games would generate up to $21 million for the local economy. Hosting the All Blacks for the match on 2 October will be special for the city. The city will be transformed for the World Cup with Wellington central turned into a party zone for the tournament.

Rugby World Cup Schedule - Wellington Matches
Date - Match Number - Pool - Teams - Location

Sun 11 Sept 8 D - South Africa v Wales Wellington

Sat 17 Sept 15 D - South Africa v Fiji Wellington

Fri 23 Sept 23 C - Australia v Americas 2 Wellington

Sat 1 Oct 35 A - France v Tonga Wellington

Sun 2 Oct 38 A - New Zealand v Americas 1 Wellington

Sat 8 Oct 41 - QF1: W Pool C v RU Pool D Wellington

Sun 9 Oct 43 - QF3: W Pool D v RU Pool C Wellington

To download the full Rugby World Cup Match Schedule, click here.

Ticketing

Applications for tickets to Rugby’s showpiece Tournament opened on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. The date marks 500 days until the start of the Tournament. All ticket sales are through the Rugby World Cup 2011 website www.rugbyworldcup.com.

There will be three sales phases, beginning with applications for Venue Pool Packs (tickets for all pool matches at a chosen venue) and Team Pool Packs (tickets for all pool matches for a chosen team).

In Phase 1 750,000 tickets will be released through Venue Pool Packs and Team Pool Packs. Fans who apply will also have the option of adding a Quarter-final Weekend Pack in Wellington or Christchurch and/or Tickets to the Bronze Final to their application. Applications closed on Friday May 21.

The second phase will see individual tickets for all matches except the semi-finals and the Final released. This is expected to occur in August or September.

The third phase will feature a ballot system for tickets to the semi-finals and the Final. Applicants from the first two phases will receive one entry into the ballots for each ticket applied for in earlier phases.

Any remaining tickets will go on general sale in 2011.

Wellington Ticketing Options

Wellington Venue Pack - to go to every Wellington Pool Match (5 matches between 11 September and 2 October) will cost: A $995, B $795, C $570, D $360, D Child $182

You also apply for a Wellington Quarter Finals Pack which gives you seats to both Quarter Finals in Wellington on 8 and 9 October. This will cost: A $960, B $780, C $580, D $380

Click here to download a Venue Map showing seating categories for Wellington Regional Stadium [PDF, 136KB]

Rugby World Cup 2011: You Gotta Be There

The first match of Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011) will kick off in New Zealand on Friday 9 September 2011. The match is New Zealand vs Tonga at Eden Park, Auckland.

The Final, Bronze Final and both semi-finals will be played at Eden Park in Auckland. The two venues and the quarter-final matches they will host have also been confirmed. Wellington will host Quarter-final 1 (winner Pool C versus runner-up Pool D) and Quarter-final 3 (winner Pool D versus runner-up Pool C) while Christchurch will host Quarter-final 2 (winner Pool B versus runner-up Pool A) and Quarter-final 4 (winner Pool A versus runner-up Pool B).

In addition, the dates for the final weekend, which coincides with Labour Day, have been confirmed with the Bronze Final to take place on Friday October 21 at Eden Park, followed by the Final on Sunday October 23 at the same venue.

New Zealanders can brace themselves for some late nights at the 2011 Rugby World Cup with some 9pm kick-offs, including the tournament final at Eden Park. Martin Snedden, CEO of Rugby New Zealand 2011, confirmed that 9pm and 8.30pm starts would be used along with the traditional evening New Zealand times of 7.30pm. Afternoon rugby will also feature with 10 of the 48 matches scheduled to be played with kickoffs ranging from 1pm to 3pm.

Wotzon.com brings you the pick of the bunch when it comes to upcoming events – take a look at the Wellington Future Events Calendar for a selection of high profile events coming throughout the year. Check out other events on the Wotzon.com homepage.

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