RWC: Eden Park in shape to pass its biggest test

The All Blacks sing the National Anthem in front of a 50,000 strong crowd. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The Rugby World Cup will turn up the excitement at Eden Park another notch from the weekend's All Black spectacle.

Tournament boss Martin Snedden and former All Blacks praised the stadium's atmosphere and delivery on Saturday night, when New Zealand beat Australia 30-14.

"I woke up this morning and thought, 'That was exactly what I had hoped for'," Mr Snedden said yesterday.

The temporary stands set up on the east and west sides of Eden Park turned the stadium into a bowl buzzing with a "special feeling".

"Overall, it performed probably better than my expectations," he said. "I'm not a fan of the Mexican wave, but to see it ripple up the tracks on both ends was really interesting."

For the World Cup, there will be extra tournament branding around the stadium and the field will be free of sponsors' markings. A further 300 volunteers and extra signs will help to guide spectators and the stadium entertainment will be turned up a notch.

"If you put all of these things together, and you add the fact that the next game will be a Rugby World Cup match - which in itself will create that special feeling - it's pretty encouraging," Mr Snedden said.

Former All Black Alan Whetton saidafter watching the game he believed Eden Park was ready.

"I think it worked very well last night, and I think a lot of people will be very happy with the facilities there.

"[There were] no problems, good service, good atmosphere, a pretty big crowd. I parked the car and walked to the game, and had no problem getting in or getting out. I thought it went pretty smoothly."

Whetton - who was given his All Black cap with twin Gary at a ceremony on Friday night - said the temporary stands and extra capacity would make a real difference to the atmosphere at the knockout tournament games.

The former test forward said Eden Park was a fitting World Cup venue given New Zealand's size and the resources available.

"Where else are we going to go? A majority of the World Cup games are going to be at Eden Park. Sixty thousand people. Just enjoy the event and what we've got."

Former All Black Josh Kronfeld had tickets right on the halfway line in the ASB Stand and said the extra capacity made a real difference.

"There's a mass of people. You definitely know that it's twice the size of what it was ... I thought it had a good atmosphere to be our number one stadium.

"It seemed like everyone got into their seating really easily. I've been in other stadiums where you can walk around and around and not find your gate."

While service and facilities compared favourably with international stadiums, Kronfeld said the major drawback of Eden Park was spectators could feel a long way from the action.