By Emma Jolliff
Bigger and better than last year was the verdict of Wellington City Council, which turned on a street party last night for thousands of rugby sevens fans in a traffic-free Courtenay Pl.
"Every year we have to extend the amount of streets we close just because of the increasing numbers of people that come along to the street party," says John Dawson, events manager.
Half the people who attend the sevens are from out of town.
"We're lucky with the crowd, they all seem to come with the right attitude and that makes a big difference," says Mr Dawson.
And they were ready for anything. The usual city bar dress codes clearly didn't apply, and with two stages of entertainment there was no shortage of music on the street.
Too much fun got the better of some - one man approaching police with a broken leg.
There were 63 arrests, mostly for minor offences like breaching the liquor ban and disorder, but police were generally happy with the crowd.
"We're pretty pleased with how it's going tonight," says Insp Kevin Reardon. "As you can see it's a huge crowd, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, we've had nothing major."
And police say the more than 70,000 at the stadium over the two days were generally well-behaved.
"Success in hosting these events isn't about the size of the cheque, it's about the ability of a city to get everyone behind it and make it work," says Mr Dawson.
And work it did. New Zealand may have been knocked out by Samoa, but fans weren't going to let a detail like that ruin a good night.
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