Festive rugby crowd in Palmerston North

A friendly and spirited crowd rallied behind Georgia and Romania tonight in Palmerston North creating few problems for police in Palmerston North.

There were no arrests at the match. One extremely intoxicated man was ejected from the ground prior to kick-off and another during the game. Five others were refused entry.

One woman was taken to hospital by ambulance with abdominal pains. St John dealt with three other medical situations; none of them serious.

Inspector Pat Handcock said: "The atmosphere inside the venue was very positive. It was a really festive and colourful crowd and was great to see the community showing such support to the overseas teams. Alcohol was an issue for one or two people but all-in-all the crowd was extremely well behaved."

Police have received reports of a small number of cars being broken into near the ground and are following up on those reports.