Rugby chiefs say prices too high as tickets go unsold

South African rugby chiefs today admitted they had priced tickets too high for the Lions First Test in Durban, which has left 2,000 unsold.

There will be an official contingent of 11,000 Lions supporters at Kings Park but with tickets costing £90 local supporters are opting to stay away.

South Africa's Rugby's project manager Andre Homan today claimed the Second Test in Pretoria was almost sold out while 2,500 tickets still remain for the final clash in Johannesburg. He said: "It is a hard sell at the moment because of the current market which has been affected by the recession. With the help of hindsight, maybe we would have taken a different view on prices.

"The ticket prices were set after very careful consultation with ticketing agencies and after benchmarking against other SA and international sporting events, however, we didn't know about the economic crisis or the fact that the IPL cricket would be brought to South Africa at short notice."

Meanwhile, Springbok assistant coach Gary Gold has insisted his players will not be underdone tomorrow. Gold, the former London Irish director of rugby, reminded doubters that the world champions had been without a game for a long period before winning last year's two matches with Wales.

He said: "It is interesting that this 'underdone' tag is being thrown around about us when 12 months ago Wales came here and told us how tired they were after having a very long season back home."