Ardie Savea signs autographs during the All Blacks training session at McLean Park. Photo / Getty Images
Ardie Savea signs autographs during the All Blacks training session at McLean Park. Photo / Getty Images
As we all know, there weren’t any surprises when New Zealand Rugby descended on Taradale on Monday to name its 33 players for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
But roll on the clock to, let’s say the 2039 Cup, and Hawke’s Bay Today can reveal one certainty on the team sheet already.
It came on what many would love to say was a typical sunny Hawke’s Bay day, with All Blacks in the air everywhere for a Wednesday morning training run and fan day at McLean Park, Napier, and where, without the cameras rolling, 5-year-old Matthew (Matt) Anderson, Hastings, made the announcement himself.
Asked if he was going to be an All Black, he made it simple. “Yes,” said Matt, who was at McLean Park with his mum Tania, Parkvale School schoolmate Ben Stone, aged 6, and his mum, Angela.
Angela Stone and son Ben (left) and Tania and Matt Anderson (right) as the All Blacks show wound down at McLean Park. Photo / Doug Laing
It was one of the success stories of the day, as hundreds, maybe thousands, of Hawke’s Bay youngsters got to see All Blacks rugby stars as close as fist-pumping distance away.
Some became instant fans, as Angela Stone highlighted.
“The good thing is they have been able to come here and then they can see them on the TV because it’s on in the mornings.”
Indeed, and good point. The All Blacks open their World Cup campaign against France on September 9, starting at 7.15am. Then there’s Namibia on September 16 starting at 7am, and Italy on September 30, at 8am, as is the game against Uruguay.
The quarter-finals on October 15-16 are also at 8am, as are the semifinals on October 21-22, and the final on October 29.
Caleb Clarke was crowded by youngsters. Photo / Getty Images
All are Saturday or Sunday mornings, except the match against Uruguay (a Friday) and possibly a quarter-final (Monday).
Stone says children don’t often get the chance to watch the All Blacks, with game times usually varying from 7.05pm when played in New Zealand, and 9.30-10pm if played in Australia, 2-4am in the UK or South Africa, and breakfast-time if played in Argentina.
Thus they were desperate to get the best chance at McLean Park, and left home in Hastings before 8am to make sure they got to the park by the time the All Blacks’ open training run and flag-waving started at 9am.
Sun, music, All Blacks, and a crowd. What else did Napier need? Photo / Doug Laing
It was one of those days when parents are happy to let the kids have time off school, and they were thus among a crowd packing the embankment-end fence-line many deep, possibly 5000 people, similar to the number that did so in similar conditions when the New Zealand Warriors were on a similar mission at McLean Park ahead of their May 27 rugby league game against the Brisbane Broncos.
At the other end of the fan scale today was “Cookie” - Napier man Ian Cook whose allegiance to rugby goes back to before the 1967-1969 Hawke’s Bay Ranfurly Shield era.
He clearly remembers the 1987 run when coach Brian Lochore brought his 26 eventually-champion players to Napier for a few days during the first Rugby World Cup, for a bit of variation heading towards the playoffs.
He remembers, particularly, because he shot lots of photographs, but also the more relaxed nature of the day.
“You could get out onto the ground then,” he said.
The All Blacks now have a few days off before flying north to prepare for the Cup shakedown at Twickenham, against South Africa in London, on August 26, at 6.30am.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, recently reaching 50 years in journalism, including when the All Blacks trained in Napier during the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.
