The Taranaki Rugby Football Union was putting a brave face on a disappointing turnout at last night's Super 12 match that puts future games in the province in doubt.
About 13,500 people turned up at Yarrow Stadium to see the Hurricanes lose 21-20 to the Sharks.
The Taranaki union needed to drawa crowd of 16,000 to ensure a future for Super 12 in the province.
Perfect weather, two in-form sides and a big promotional effort failed to lure enough fans.
TRFU chairman Peter Crawford said several factors had influenced the number of people through the gates.
"Friday night rugby is always hard to sell when you compare it to a Saturday night game," he said.
"Although it would have been nice to get 16,000 turn up, it still represents 14 per cent of our population and I think that is still a magnificent effort from the rugby fans of Taranaki."
Crawford said Taranaki's crowd numbers were favourable when compared to Wellington's, on a per capita basis.
He said that if 30,000 people turned up to Westpac Stadium, it only equated to 7 per cent of the capital's population.
Despite Crawford's sums, last night's crowd was the second-to-worst turn out in the eight times New Plymouth has hosted Super 12 rugby. It is 10,000 fewer than turned out in 1998 to watch the Hurricanes beat the Cats.
But the drop-off does not seem to be limited to Taranaki. Other New Zealand franchises were struggling to fill stadiums to the same extent as in previous years. Last week, only 22,000 fans cheered on the Hurricanes against the Cats in Wellington.
Even so, the turnout at Yarrow Stadium may add weight to the growing demands of other Hurricanes franchise regions.
Wanganui, Manawatu, Horowhenua and Hawke's Bay have made it no secret that they want every Hurricanes games played in Wellington.
The bigger crowd numbers in the capital city mean bigger cheques at the end of the season.
- NZPA
* Visit nzherald.co.nz throughout the weekend for Super 12 updates.
