They failed to ensure the venue was adequate for the crowds they lured to the waterfront.
Mix that with a public transport system totally inadequate for the task, a perfect spring day and too much alcohol, and mayhem ensued.
Early yesterday Mr McCully's officials told the Auckland Council and Ports of Auckland chiefs that Bledisloe and Captain Cook wharves should be made available for emergency crowd overflow if there were problems later in the rugby tournament. They agreed. They were stunned to hear later in the day that Mr McCully had seized power anyway.
The Auckland Council is less than a year old. It was the Government's prize creation.
In one eccentric move, Mr McCully and Mr Key have not just demonstrated their contempt for the city's leadership, they have deliberately humiliated the mayor and shown how hollow their talk of partnership was.
No one would argue that Auckland Council has to share responsibility for Friday's failings.
But so does the micro-managing minister and his team of bureaucrats who have been overseeing every step in the preparations.
With an election looming, such contemptuous arrogance should have every Aucklander wondering, what is next?
