Newly-opened suburban Rugby World Cup fan zones in Auckland have drawn far smaller crowds than they can hold.
Peak crowds on the waterfront for the first big weekend of the Cup were less than half of the capacity on Sunday night and one of the new suburban zones drew hundreds rather than thousands of fans.
The Government has spent an extra $4 million and Auckland Council $1.5 million, to avoid a repeat of the overcrowding on opening night.
A new waterfront zone at Wynard Quarter drew about 2500 people last night, with room for three times that number.
The two main wharves had about 12,000 fans, a little more than half of their capacity.
New suburban fan zones drew a peak of 1800 in Mangere, 2500 at Albany and 500 in Henderson.
Organisers expect bigger crowds over the final two weekends of the event.
