Roosters pitch in for test match

Photo / Mark Mitchell

Roosters of many stripes invaded the pitch at Saturday night's All Blacks rugby test against the French, ruffling feathers even before the game began.

One bird, painted red, white and blue to match the French flag, evaded security guards and streaked before the teams as the national anthems were played.

A second rooster, called Pepino by its French owners, was later let on to the pitch and caught by security staff.

"The security came with the police, they force us to sign a paper to give Pepino to the SPCA and if not we were brought to the police station and going through the courts," Laurent Bigot told TV3.

Mr Bigot and his nephew, Anthony, bought the bird on the roadside for $10 near Dunedin and travelled north with him.

Despite a stadium ban on live animals aside from guide dogs and police dogs, they said smuggling Pepino in under a jacket was easy.

The roosters may have fared better than another pitch invader, a clothed woman who was knocked to the ground by a security guard in the second half.

The tackle was described as a brutal hit by one of the commentators, but not shown on television.

Security company Red Badge said the incident being reviewed, TV3 reported.

- NZPA