Scenes from Eden Park's World Cup warm-up

Last night, I was part of the 44,234-strong crowd at the Four Nations' games between Papua New Guinea and England, and the Kiwis and the Kangaroos.

The game was the first Eden Park has hosted with most of its new facilities operational, and as such was billed as a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup.

Overall, things ran really pretty smoothly.

As a technology writer, my main gripe was that I couldn't tweet. The Twitter client took an age to load on my iPhone, and I didn't dare attempt a twitpic (around me, people were able to txt and call okay). Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees are going to co-operate on temporary celltowers around the area for the World Cup. Certainly, they're needed.

The main advice about driving to the ground is: forget it. The no-parking rules in residents' streets have been around for years. Last night, side-streets for about 500m around the stadium had heavy-duty impermeable barriers.

Sandringham Road was barricaded at about the same distance, so even a drive-by drop-off is now impossible.

My taxi was turned back and I had to hoof it.

Still, a couple of minutes walking didn't kill me.

On Dominion Road traffic was slow, but moving.

Comms Day's Bill Bennett, who was in my party, did a Park and Ride from a station on the North Shore and got to the game in about 30 minutes.

The electronic entry system was working smoothly, with punters able to use the barcodes on their tickets to swipe themselves into the ground (after a search, if you were holding a bag; as ever, there was the ridiculous policy - seemingly more aimed at boosting beverage sales than frustrating Al-Qaeda - of confiscating drinks in plastic bottles, even though the same could be bought inside the gate).

Many an angry Westie was circling the edge of the exclusion zone, looking for a park (and many a kerbside was littered with empty beer bottles; so much for the liquor-free signs). 

But over all, there seemed no big drama. Of course, for the World Cup they'll be about a third as many people again.

The crowd did get pretty unruly about 20 minutes toward the end of the Kiwi-Kangaroos game, with often full plastic bottles thrown in the air during a boisterous Mexican wave. But personally, I thought the officials did an excellent job of cooling things down with only the briefest of stops in play and a PA announcement (six people were arrested outside the ground).

A lot of the crowd behaved boorishly, but the situation never got out of control, and media reports suggesting it did are totally overblown.

Many a plastic bottle landed on the edge of the pitch - which was a dismal, bogan look, to be sure - but it was all part of the wave, and all the detritus fell behind the sidelines.

Security did handle the situation, and the crowd had settled by the end of the game.

Some of the companies doing corporate hosting were a little embarrassed - but stress on the "little". There were also moments of good humour and bon homie* on the part of the crowd, especially as the stadium united behind underdogs Papua New Guinea in the opener.

First Aid AWOL
Having said that, one of the guys in my party did get beaned in the head by a full plastic bottle at one point during the Mexican wave. He was literally stunned and went in search of some First Aid - but could not find any.

Poor streaker performance
A "streaker" did invade the ground at one point. I don't know how it came to be reported that he was on the pitch for a minute before being caught.

Although he made it a good way onto the pitch, security guards were in hot pursuit and ran him down and scooped him off almost immediately.

Also, the streaker was fully clothed. Still, he has a lot of time to work on his act before the World Cup.

The corporate hospitality suite in the new South Stand (officially known as the Platinum Club) had brilliant views of the game from its terrace and outdoor seating. The bar service was fast, with beers constantly ferried to tables in champagne buckets of ice.

At half time, as two or three hundred people suddenly trooped back in, a steak dinner was served instantly for every table; no mean feat of catering (in a nice league touch, there appeared to be no non-steak option for carnivores, let alone a vegetarian choice).

Incidentally, controversial broadcaster Tony Veitch (above to the left of the pillar was among guests in the suite. He looked relaxed but, perhaps curiously in a room threaded with sports stars and personalities, he spent much of his time with actor David Fane (apologies for the world's worst paparazzi shot; Veitch turned his back each time I raised my iPhone 4; I would have too. Posh union fans take note - corporate dress is a little more Outrageous Fortune at league games).

During the half-time mean, the compere apologised that several of the Kiwis were supposed to make a cameo appearance in the corporate hospitality suite, but hadn't shown.

I'm sure everybody present thought they had better things to do before running on for the second half than corporate glad-handing.

It was a truly lame idea. Good on the players for rebelling against it.

After the crowd emptied out, I went onto the terrace of the Platinum Club corporate area (from where I took the above pic) and tried to access 3G data again. It was better, but still slow. The South Stand seems a bit of a deadzone. Chop chop with that co-operative effort to boost coverage.

Lastly, I'm no league expert, so I'll spare you comment on the game. Bar the fact I was surprised none of the Kiwis seemed to be able to go more than two minutes without sipping a sports drink (brought on by superstar waterboy Reuben Wiki, who seemed to spend practically half the game on the field, often lurking behind the backline while the game was in full play).

My theory: they were simply waterlogged.

* Not sure if that's an official league expression