Football, rugby trade places for a weekend

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -New Zealand sports fans can be forgiven for being a little confused this weekend as rugby and football perform the ultimate home swap.

While the main stadium in the nation's capital has been turned over to football, and will be full to its 35,000 capacity for the World Cup qualifier between New Zealand and Bahrain, the national rugby team, the All Blacks, will play at the 80,000-seat San Siro in Milan, home to Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter Milan.

Football has never drawn a bigger crowd in New Zealand than it will Saturday for a match which could propel the Kiwis into the World Cup for the first time in 27 years.

The All Blacks' tour to Europe has been consigned to the inside pages of sports editions while the national football team, the All Whites, basks in unprecedented domestic attention.

In Milan, meanwhile, the All Blacks have been welcomed as sporting superstars, partying with supermodels as the Italian fashion capital goes briefly pazzo - or crazy - over rugby. The All Blacks will play Italy at the San Siro on Saturday as football yields to rugby in one of its regular strongholds.