All Blacks surprise in show of support for girls' rugby

The All Blacks have shown their support for girls' rugby today, turning up at an Auckland high school for a surprise training session. Thirty of Auckland's best young female First XV players were having a training session at Onehunga High School today and were surprised when All Blacks Beauden Barrett, Israel Dagg, Hika Elliot, Owen Franks, Hosea Gear, Andrew Hore, Julian Savea, Ben Smith, Adam Thomson and Tony Woodcock turned up to help put the girls through their paces. The All Blacks are in Auckland preparing for this weekend's opening Steinlager Series Test against Ireland and today's event was organised in conjunction with adidas, the principal sponsor of the team. The girls were a mix of First XV players from Onehunga High School and other Auckland schools, as well as several players who have been hand-picked to be part of the New Zealand Rugby Union's Go4Gold Women's Sevens Programme, which is searching for players to represent New Zealand at the 2016 Rio Olympics. "It was great to get out there and show our support for girls' rugby," Andrew Hore said. "There's some real talent out there and with the Olympic programme underway it looks like girls' rugby is on a real high which is awesome."