Kept from live sports activity during the coronavirus shutdown, New Zealand rugby fans have gobbled up tickets for the Auckland Blues match against the Wellington Hurricanes on Sunday, with authorities setting up the ‘full house’ sign at Eden Park.
New Zealand’s government lifted virtually all Covid-19 limitations prior this week, permitting a 10-week competition for the nation’s five Super Rugby teams to start this end of the week with no cutoff points on swarm sizes.
The Blues said that by 12 p.m. local (1 a.m. SA time) on Saturday they had sold 43,000 tickets, the capacity set for the match, and there would be no gate sales on matchday.
Eden Park can for the most part seat up to around 50,000.
“It was only a few weeks ago that we were planning for competition behind closed doors,” Blues Chief Executive Andrew Hore said in a statement on Saturday.
“This will be a special occasion that everyone will remember and a celebration of what New Zealand has achieved as a nation to get to this stage.”
‘Super Rugby Aotearoa’ starts later on Saturday with the Otago Highlanders hosting the Waikato Chiefs in Dunedin, with authorities expecting a close capacity swarm more than 20,000.
