The organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup have been forced to postpone the sale of tickets after beleaguered partner Ticketmaster, already under fire for the shambles surrounding Commonwealth Games sales, asked for more time to prepare its website.
The first 500,000 tickets for the tournament, the biggest sporting event to take place in the UK since the Olympics in 2012, were due to go on sale on Friday to approximately 100,000 members of rugby clubs who had pre-registered.
But in light of the chaos surrounding the sale of the last batch of Glasgow Commonwealth Games tickets, which was suspended this week after prospective purchasers struggled with long delays and incomplete transactions, Ticketmaster asked for more time to test its system.
The company was chosen to handle sales for both events despite major issues during the ticket-sale process for the London Olympic Games, when there were problems involving the sale of later batches of first-come, first-served tickets and with a complex resale system.
Several senior England 2015 staff, including the chief executive Debbie Jevans, previously worked for the London 2012 organising committee.
A spokeswoman for England 2015 said that delaying the sales window for those registered through rugby clubs until 29 May was the "prudent" thing to do in the circumstances. In a statement, the organiser said Ticketmaster had asked "for more time to test the online ticketing system they are providing to ensure that rugby fans have the best possible experience when booking tickets".
In an attempt to find a silver lining it said the delay would give rugby clubs more time to register members on the system for the 500,000 tickets available.
The sales window will now run from 29 May to 2 July, with up to a million more tickets scheduled to go on general sale between 12 September and 29 September.
But while the general sales window will operate via a ballot, with prospective buyers given a fortnight to register their requests, the so-called Rugby Community Ticketing Programme that was due to launch was a first-come, first-served facility. As such, there were fears that the site could crash in the rush for tickets.
Jevans has previously defended the choice of Ticketmaster to run the operation for the Rugby World Cup, which kicks off in September next year.
Ticketmaster said: "Our priority is ensuring the experience of securing tickets for the Rugby World Cup is a positive one for fans. We want to be clear: the decision to reschedule the Rugby World Cup 2015 rugby community ticket sale underlines that priority. We thank rugby fans and England Rugby 2015 for their patience."
Glasgow 2014 organisers were this week forced to suspend the sale of the final batch of 100,000 tickets across all sports available for July's Games. The website and call centre were closed at 6pm on Tuesday after customers complained. Organisers said around 55,000 of the 100,000 tickets had been sold.
In a further embarrassment, organisers were forced to apologise after it emerged that some of those callers who were unable to get through had been charged for their calls because of a "human-programming error".
Glasgow 2014's chief executive David Grevemberg said he had met with the Scottish cabinet secretary to provide an update on the fiasco. "This was a constructive and positive meeting where we outlined the options and testing required to ensure we can put tickets back on sale with confidence," he said, promising a further update on Friday.
