Wellington awash with black and yellow

The streets of Wellington are awash with black and yellow as the city counts down to the Super Rugby final.

There’ll be a sellout crowd of 36,000 filling Westpac Stadium on Saturday night for the highly anticipated match between the Hurricanes and Highlanders.

The vast majority will be backing the home team and there are plenty of Hurricanes supporters in the streets with flags in hand, decked out in black and yellow jerseys, facepaint and headgear.

While they’ll be vastly outnumbered, dedicated Highlanders supporters insist they won’t be outdone.

Nelson local Gerald Baldwin, who’s made the trip to the capital for the final, was sporting blue and gold overalls and carrying a Highlanders’ themed shield.

“We’ve actually brought a taxi to take the cup home,” he told NZ Newswire.

“It’s waiting outside the cake tin … It’s costing us quite a bit as the meter ticks.”

People who haven’t managed to score tickets started descending on the capital’s bars early to try to get a good seat to watch the final on television.

A family-friendly fan zone has also been set up on the waterfront, with a big screen in Shed 6 screening the game.

The weather is playing ball for the final, with a fine evening and uncharacteristically light winds forecast.

Air New Zealand put on extra flights from Dunedin to Wellington to ensure eager Highlanders fans could make the game.

Extra train, bus and ferry services will be running after the game and there will also be shuttles between the stadium and Courtenay Place.

Meanwhile, former Hurricane Neemi Tialata tweeted a photo earlier on Saturday of Jerry Collins’ daughter Ayla wrapped in her late father’s black and yellow jersey.

“Ayla in her Daddy’s @Hurricanesrugby jersey ready for #SuperRugbyFinal we bleed #BLACKandYELLOW good luck brothers!” Tialata wrote.

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