Women's Rugby World Cup set to smash attendance record

The record attendance for a Women's Rugby World Cup match is set to be broken after New Zealand organisers said on Friday more than 30 000 tickets have been sold for the opening day.

Auckland's Eden Park will kick the tournament off on 8 October with a triple bill when South Africa play France, Fiji face England and New Zealand host Australia.

The previous record attendance at a Women's Rugby World Cup was the final of 2014 when a sell-out 20 000 saw England defeat Canada in Paris.

Tournament director Michelle Hooper says they are now working on the "bold ambition" of selling all 47 000 seats at Eden Park.

"We're breaking new ground with this tournament and now want to see if we can secure another record first for New Zealand and for women's rugby by filling Eden Park," she said.

"We believe it's possible and are over-turning every rock in the process to bring this vision to life."

England are favourites to win the World Cup with the final also due to be held at Eden Park, on 12 November.