Ticket hunt starts as online ballot opens for next year's Lions tour to South Africa

Tickets from as little as R100 (£4.30) for next year’s British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa are now available after the opening of the online ballot system for tickets which will run until September 16. Fans can log on to www.lionstour2021.co.za and select tickets for all eight matches, up to a maximum of eight tickets per match.

The tour, which kicks off in Cape Town on 3 July 2021, stretches across six cities over five weeks and ticket prices have been set to make them attractive to South Africans.

Ticket prices for matches against the DHL Stormers at Cape Town Stadium, the Cell C Sharks at Kings Park and the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld range in price from R250 (£10.90) to R600 (£26). 

Tickets for midweek matches against a SA Invitational team in Port Elizabeth and against SA A at Mbombela Stadium are even cheaper ranging from only R100 (£4.30) to R350 (£15.20).

The cheapest Test match ticket is R500 (£21.80) – less than the price of a ticket to a 2019 Springbok Test – and increases to R1,250 (£54.50) and R2,000 (£87.20) to the top-priced ticket of R3,000 (£130.80).

“This is now the next step important step for supporters to apply online for their tickets,” enthused South Africa Rugby CEO Jurie Roux, knowing that the revenue the Lions tour can generate is critical to his union's finances. “More tickets will be available to home fans than to overseas fans – we want to meet them with an army of green to combat the sea of red.”

Roux emphasised there was only one route for South Africans to secure tickets, by entering the online ballot as tickets will not be available at match venues, through provincial unions or at the usual retails outlets.

“There is massive interest in the tour and we expect it to be a hugely popular occasion, as witnessed by the many thousands of supporters who have already pre-registered for the online ticket ballot,” added Roux.

“We have had large-scale interest through www.lionstour2021.co.za and they will all receive an email with a link to the ticket site once the ballot opens. The ballot closes at midnight on 16 September 2020, after which we expect all the publicly available tickets to be allocated.”