Big crowd in the picture as Magpies put shield on line

SHIELD ON SHOW: There's no parade today, but Flaxmere Primary pupils had just about the next best thing yesterday as the Ranfurly Shield and its heroic Magpies defenders fronted up for assembly at the school.

A crowd expected to number more than 10,000 for the ultimate Battle of the Bays Ranfurly Shield match at McLean Park in Napier today will be even more in the picture than the other recent throngs at the ground.

Hawke's Bay Rugby Union marketing manager Jay Campbell said last night the television images of the Hawke's Bay Magpies' second defence of the shield, against northeastern neighbours the Bay of Plenty Steamers, will be displayed on two screens, possibly a first for the park.

They will be accompanied by broadcast information on refereeing decisions, relayed by the ground announcer as was done in a second-half trialling of the new ITM Cup move during last week's first defence and 41-0 victory over Otago.

The two screens will be sited either side of the 9000-seat TicketDirect embankment stand, which was erected for the September 6 test between the All Blacks and Argentina and which will remain in place until the end of the ITM Cup season next month, albeit with some modifications before the Magpies' next home match, against Wellington on the night of October 1.

Today's match will be the Magpies' last cup match of the season in the mid-afternoon Saturday timeslot which, blessed with regular fine weather, was a feature of Hawke's Bay's 1966-69 shield era.

MetService last night wasn't quite forecasting a return to the golden climate, but it was expecting fine weather by the 2.35pm kick-off, after showers this morning. Significant westerly winds were also forecast for the region today.

Mr Campbell said that was something out of everyone's control, but what was in control was whether people got to the game on time. Last Sunday there were still an estimated 750 people "unticketed" at the gates when the Magpies kicked off into the wind, some missing the three tries during the next nine minutes.

The first of two schoolchildren's curtain raisers will start at 12.30pm, and Mr Campbell said: "Get there early."

If the five-figures crowd numbers are achieved, crowd attendances for the three weekends of the All Blacks test and the two shield defences will have surpassed 44,000, figures unmatched since the 1960s.

Today's crowd will include at least 200 who've bought tickets made available specifically for supporters of Bay of Plenty, a union which 92 years ago almost stopped Hawke's Bay's 1922-27 Ranfurly Shield tenure from ever happening, missing a kick from in front on fulltime as Hawke's Bay won 17-16 in its first-ever defence of the trophy, at Nelson Park in Hastings.

Bay of Plenty had to wait 82 years before finally winning the shield in 2004, but had just one successful defence.

A big crowd is also expected at the racecourse in Hastings where the nine-race second day of Hawke's Bay Racing's Spring Carnival starts at 12.25pm, and features the the $200,000 Windsor Park Plate, timed to start at 4.33pm, about 15 minutes after the rugby ends just 11km away.

The big events, coupled with the observance of some of the traditions of Election Day, sparked warnings from police about drink-driving and other safety on the roads.

Eastern District road policing manager Acting Inspector Matt Broderick said as it was with any events which involved the sale and consumption of alcohol police would be focusing on people driving from the shield match and the races.

"They will both be centres of attention for us as we do not tolerate alcohol and driving - we will be targeting that risk appropriately," Mr Broderick said.

Checkpoints and routine patrols would be used, although one other senior officer conceded there weren't any aimed at intercepting the shield should it somehow be headed up State Highway 5 towards Rotorua and Tauranga after the big game.