Blues to look into stadium bottleneck

By WYNNE GRAY

The Blues will investigate congestion at North Harbour Stadium after thousands of Super 12 patrons were turned away from the Good Friday start to the Easter rugby bonanza.

Blues chief executive David White accepted that there were problems and will meet stadium and franchise officials tomorrow to pinpoint reasons.

"There were some issues at the gates and we are very concerned about it," he said.

"There was a bottleneck. We understand people were turned away, but because of the holiday weekend we have still to get all the information."

A crowd of about 22,000 watched the Blues defeat the Waratahs. Mr White said there was more space, as the ground capacity was about 24,000.

"We are yet to get to the bottom of the issues, but obviously they did not have the onsite capability to cope with the numbers. I don't know why.

"It was a surprisingly large crowd. It was great to have so many people there, but we have to ensure all the patrons get in."