A little Northland school won a big prize thanks to 7-year-old Mia Rumble
Former All Black captain Richie McCaw dropped in by helicopter to visit the kids of a small Northland school — thanks to a seven-year-old girl who wanted to make her friends happy.
Richie's visit to Okaihau Primary School last week was the first of four planned around New Zealand to mark five years of Fonterra's Milk for Schools programme.
Any school could be nominated for Richie's Milk Run, with a judging panel given the unenviable task of choosing the winners from 25,000 entries which flooded in from around the country.
Teacher aide Alissa Bradley of Horeke (left), and teacher Maxine Cates, of Kerikeri, get a selfie with Richie McCaw.
Okaihau caught the judges' attention because of the sheer number of nominations — 130 from a school of just 160 kids — but the clincher was a letter written by seven-year-old Mia Rumble.
Mia said Richie should choose Okaihau not for her sake but because her two best friends, boys named Millar and Leo, were his "absolute biggest fans".
The All Black legend touched down on the school field at 10am for a welcome by a crowd of very excited kids and possibly even more excited parents.
High five! Mia Rumble, 7, with Richie McCaw.
He was welcomed with waiata and mihimihi with Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime translating, then posed for some special class photos and took part in a series of team games including four-way tug-of-war.
He also answered questions about why he retired, whether he missed rugby, and how it felt to win the Rugby World Cup (sheer relief after the first one, but he couldn't get enough the second time and wished the game would never end).
