The All Blacks’ spiritual home Eden Park is expected to host a “near capacity” crowd of 47,000 for the second Bledisloe Cup match between New Zealand and Australia on Sunday, BBC Sport reported.
The country, with a population of 4.8m, has been so successful in combating Covid-19 it had only one new case in the 24 hours leading up to 13 October.
The first Test in Wellington featured 31,000 fans without masks.
“It’s shaping as a special occasion,” said NZR’s Chris Lendrum.
“We are looking forward to bringing Test rugby to New Zealand’s largest city (Auckland) and with more than 40,000 tickets sold.”
The third Bledisloe Cup Test will be staged at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium on October 31 and could be played in front of 40,000 fans.
The government of the Australian state of New South Wales, where community transmission has been reduced to a handful of cases each day, loosened restrictions on big stadiums from October 1 to allow them to be filled to 50% of capacity.
New Zealand and Australia battled to a thrilling 16-16 draw in a gripping opening Bledisloe Cup Test in Wellington last Sunday that saw the return of international rugby following the coronavirus shutdown.
Play continued nearly 10 minutes after the final hooter sounded as neither side wanted to settle for a draw.
The entertaining encounter, with two tries and two penalties apiece, lifted rugby out of its seven-month Test hiatus in front of a near-capacity 31,000mask-free spectators with New Zealand having largely contained the virus. For the All Blacks and Wallabies it was almost a year since they last played at the World Cup in Japan, and it was exactly 400 days since the last Test match in New Zealand.
In addition to the Covid distraction, the Test build-up was also rocked by disputes between New Zealand and Australia over Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship, and when it came to the on-field contest there were signs of rust.
But there was also a keen edge, and the draw leaves the four-match Bledisloe series wide open as Australia push to end an 18-year drought.