Ospreys coach’s bold incentive that would ‘get people back in love with Welsh rugby’
28,328 fans were at the Principality Stadium for Judgement Day.
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones admits he would have liked to have seen Judgement Day tickets priced at £1 in order to get fans “falling in love with Welsh rugby” again.
The double header that saw Ospreys take on Cardiff before the Dragons faced Scarlets drew in a crowd of 28,328 which was a disappointing number for such a unique event.
In the past the Principality Stadium has been packed to the rafters to watch all four regions battle it out and coach Jones was therefore upset about Saturday’s poor turnout.
Bold pricing strategy
“The concept is the right one where you have a day where everyone comes together and celebrates Welsh rugby with the talent we’ve got and the way we can perform,” he said.
“We need to work out how we get 60,000 in there like we used to. That’s the challenge.”
Jones believes that cutting ticket prices in order to get numbers through the turnstiles would be beneficial in filling the stadium and also help fans fall in love with rugby again.
“The selfish side of me says open it up, make tickets £1, fill the place out and get them in love with rugby,” he continued.
“I know electric is not free and you have to pay people to staff it and make money, so I get it.
“But, at some point, we have to get people back in love with Welsh rugby and get them in the stadiums cheering on the teams. We’ve got to create some heroes out of the players and, if we can do that, it can be self-fulfilling.
“We should definitely try and keep it going here, but everybody is aligned around the fact it needs to be a big spectacle from a visual point of view, as well.”
Cardiff and Scarlets win
Cardiff and the Scarlets claimed the spoils as they saw off the Ospreys and Dragons 36-19 and 31-23 respectively to keep their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes alive.
Matt Sherratt’s outfit subsequently moved to fifth in the standings as two tries from Alex Mann and a Gabriel Hamer-Webb hat-trick propels them above Munster to sixth spot.
Henry Thomas, Alec Hepburn, Vaea Fifita and Blair Murray crossed for Scarlets in their bonus-point win as they sit in ninth, just two points adrift of the Stormers and Munster.
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