New Zealand has won all three of its pool games on the first day of the Wellington Sevens and will face Australia in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
New Zealand's Sam Dickson makes a break against Canada in their first pool game of the tournament. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
As expected, attendance at the rugby tournament has been considerably down on previous years.
Organisers said about 15,000 people have been watching the afternoon games and this was expected to grow to about 20,000 this evening.
They said there was still a party atmosphere in the stadium, with many people dressed in the customary lavish costumes, and that behaviour had been good.
Police said only a handful of people had been evicted from the stadium with just one person arrested.
New Zealand made a strong start to its title defence with a 26-5 win over Canada followed by a 38-7 win over Papua New Guinea and a 24-5 win over England.
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