Women's Rugby World Cup attendance record set to be broken in New Zealand
- Published
Auckland's Eden Park will host the opening day of the Rugby World Cup as well as the semi-finals and final
The record attendance for a women's Rugby World Cup match is set to be broken when the tournament begins in New Zealand on 8 October.
More than 30,000 tickets have been sold for the opening matchday at Eden Park, which has a capacity of 50,000.
There will be three fixtures in one day at the venue and attendance is expected to surpass the record of 20,000 set at the 2014 Rugby World Cup in France.
England play Fiji on the opening day, with hosts New Zealand also in action.
The five-time champions face Australia at 07:15 BST, and South Africa v France will open the tournament at 02:15.
Favourites England will play Fiji at 04:45, followed by a performance from Rita Ora.
Wales and Scotland are in New Zealand for the World Cup too, and face each other on 9 October.
The 2017 World Cup final in Belfast - where New Zealand beat England - was played in front of 17,115 fans.
Eden Park, which will also host the 2022 semi-finals and final, has never before been filled for women's sport and tournament director Michelle Hooper said the event is "breaking new ground".
The 2022 opener is set to be the largest attendance at a standalone women's sports matchday in New Zealand, with the previous mark being 16,162 for the under-17s football World Cup final between the United States and North Korea in 2008.
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