Bristol Bears are set for their biggest crowd since the Covid-19 pandemic threw professional sport worldwide into turmoil.
Tickets are flying out the door for the club’s historic midweek game against reigning World champions South African when the Springboks head North on their Autumn tour.
Bears director of rugby Pat Lam will be watching tomorrow’s South Africa v Wales game with significant interest as Spingboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has made 14 changes to the starting side that beat Wales 32-29 last weekend, showing the incredible depth of quality Bristol’s opponents on Thursday, November 17 have at their disposal. likely
Many of the men taking the field in Bloemfontein will likely be running out at Ashton Gate in a few months' time with the midweek fixture slotting in between Test matches against France and Italy on successive weekends.
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After just four days of ticket sales for the game against South Africa, Bristol Bears have broken records for the entire Bristol Sport group, which of course includes Championship football club Bristol City.
The rugby club have already sold more than 16,000 tickets for the game, selling a stunning 5,000 tickets in the first 29 minutes of the game going on general sale yesterday, with more than 10,000 tickets selling on Thursday - a club record on a single day.
The message to anyone wishing to attend the game against the South Africa XV in November is get your ticket sooner rather than later as sources at the Bears confirm the match is well on track for a sell-out to match the 26,399 that packed inside Ashton Gate for the 2019/20 season opener against Bath.
Bristol’s biggest attendance at Ashton Gate since the Covid 19 pandemic, when games country-wide were played behind closed doors, was 23,438 against Bath back in October, 2021.
South Africa will become the sixth international side to play Bristol in the club's 134-year history, along with Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Tonga and the USA.
With season tickets at the Bears also surpassing 10,000 ahead of the 2022/23 campaign the picture looks rosy for Bristol in terms of the support from their fanbase despite a disappointing 10th place finish last season.
The Gallagher Premiership fixtures for the new season will be released on Tuesday, July 19.
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