Traffic banked up for more than 1km from Eden Park last night after Sandringham Rd was closed at 6 o'clock for the Blues-Stormers rugby match, annoying fans and commuters.
Auckland Transport confirmed it was the first time the normally busy commuter route had been closed on a Friday evening,
but blamed traffic delays on rugby fans leaving it too late to travel to the park.
Its spokesman Wally Thomas said the traffic was "not significantly busier than a normal Friday night".