WALES' army of fans are preparing for an invasion of Scottish soil not seen since King George II sent his nasty hordes north to quash Bonnie Prince Charlie.

An estimated 45,000 Grand Slam hungry supporters are expected to make the pilgrimage to Edinburgh in the hope that Wales can overcome their Murrayfield hoodoo, with only one win in 20 visits, and set up a title-decider against Ireland at the Millennium Stadium in two weeks time.

"The centre of Edinburgh is going to be red," said Mark Mosley from the Edinburgh and Lothian Tourist Board.

"The English tend to come for the day and the Irish for a week, but the Welsh usually make a long weekend of it, we expect hotel occupancy to be near 100 per cent from Thursday onwards."

Wales have received the standard allocation of 5,000 tickets but the Scottish Rugby Union admit that several thousand more have been snapped up via the internet, meaning almost 25,000 of the 67,000 capacity at Murrayfield could be wearing dragons on their breasts.

Another 20,000 Welsh fans are expected to fill Edinburgh's pubs and bars for the match The disillusioned Scottish supporters have delivered a huge snub to their misfiring side, with 6,000 tickets still not sold.

SRU press officer Graham Law said: "With internet sales, postal and credit card sales, it is impossible to judge how many Wales fans will be there."

But with 6,000 flying from Cardiff alone, it is sure to be a heck of a lot.

Julia Whittingham, from supporters travel firm Travel City, said: "We are fully booked and could have filled another plane after the France result.

"We have flights going out on Friday and Saturday and coming back on Sunday and Monday but we couldn't get another plane slot. We have had to turn people away."

Liz Jones, WRU communications officer, said: "We received the standard 5,000 ticket allocation from the SRU and they have obviously all gone.

"But there will be a loads going without tickets."

Remaining tickets are available on www.scottishrugby.org or by calling 0870 040 1925, £50 for adults, £20 for under 18s and students.