Auckland in for weekend festival of rugby

Rugby fans in the Auckland region can look forward to a festival of rugby this weekend, with the All Blacks final home test of the year and three Air New Zealand Cup matches on.

The All Blacks take on Australia in the final Tri Nations-Bledisloe Cup match-up between the two sides at Eden Park on Saturday, with kickoff at the unusually early time of 5.30pm.

Then the following day it will be wall-to-wall Air New Zealand Cup action across the region – with Counties Manukau playing Northland at Mt Smart Stadium at 12.30pm, Auckland hosting Bay of Plenty at Eden Park at 2.35pm and North Harbour playing Wellington at 4.35pm.