Ashton Gate will host both semi-finals at next year’s Women‘s Rugby World Cup, with England Women guaranteed to play at the Bristol venue should they progress to the knockout phase.
The 27,000-capacity ground will also share the quarter-finals with Exeter’s Sandy Park on the weekend of September 13-14, tournament organisers revealed on Tuesday at an announcement over ticketing plans for the event.
England will open their bid to become world champions for the third time at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland on August 22 before playing further group games in Northampton and Brighton.
Over 400,000 tickets will be available for the competition with pre-sale for the first match and the final opening on September 24.
The cost of the tickets will range from £5 to £95 with the highest price reserved for some seats at the Twickenham final, which will be preceded by the bronze final as part of a double header.
At £95 the most expensive ticket compares unfavourably with recent major women‘s football tournaments, Euro 2022 and the 2023 World Cup, but World Rugby‘s director of ticketing Paul Lemon insists it reflects the health of the sport.
“We can take pride in that and we should take pride in that,” Lemon said. “The women‘s game is growing and it’s hugely exciting.
“We’re confident in the prices. When you compare them with other sports, it’s easy to compare the price without looking at the sales volumes.
“The Euros final is a great example - they could probably have sold that final four times over. Those events were two or three years ago and this event is in another year’s time.
“The timing is different, the moment is different and we’re really excited about this opportunity. We’ve got a huge range of prices and the slightly more expensive ticket also enables us to be able to have accessible pricing and engage families across the board.”
Group matches will also be hosted in Exeter, Manchester and York and the ambition is to register an 82,000 sell-out for the final at Twickenham.
