RWC party at John Key's

John Key could help out local fans. Photo / Natalie Slade

Tickets to the Rugby World Cup are beginning to sell out. There will be no big screen at Aotea Square. The Cloud on the waterfront is for business and VIPs. Rugby clubs are warning they can't afford the $3000 fee required to screen the games for guests.

So how will New Zealand watch the Cup? We asked readers on the nzherald.co.nz Facebook page.

"Party at John Key's house!" Jackie Borell proposed. "Oh hell yeah! If he can cater for a prince and a president, he can provide/cater for us! Party at John Key's house, I say."

Clare Farrell, from Kaeo, planned to be "sitting with all our friends watching it in our huge shed. Let them come and charge me".

The advantage of watching it at home, said Paula Cooke, was that she wouldn't have to deal with traffic gridlock "and rude people cheering for the other side".

Aaron Joseph was going to set up a big screen at the beach, while Guy Boniface suggested he might find a dodgy Chinese website streaming it for free and try to ignore the foreign language commentary.

The Eden Park final and two others games (France versus Canada, France versus New Zealand) are sold out.

There will be fan zones at Auckland's Queens Wharf, Dunedin's's Octagon, Wellington's waterfront, Rotorua, and Christchurch's Hagley Park, though no games are being played in the city because of earthquake damage.

Nicholas Smeaton joked on the Facebook page: "I might just go down to the party zone in Hagley Park and take photos of the tumbleweeds blowing through."

"Why doesn't New Zealand just shut down and not do anything?" asked Clayton Scott. "We can call it Perth ..."