Millionaires versus minnows as All Blacks take on Heartland

The power and the passion will clash today with the celebrity boys in black coming up against a Heartland XV in a game of rugby that pits millionaires against minnows.

Somehow, the game conjures up parallels with England's FA Cup; a team of Sunday amateur footballers playing a Premiership side with all the money, silverware and glory.

The match could also turn out to be a dud, with a feeling that there could be nothing in it for the amateurs but disappointment.

The game will see the likes of Canterbury Crusader Ritchie McCaw lining up against 23-year-old vineyard worker Sylvanus Iro of Wairarapa Bush.

It is estimated Iro's salary is around the $30,000 mark, but he earns none of that playing the game he loves.

Compare that to All Black captain McCaw, who is thought to earn more than $500,000 a year playing the game he too loves.

Iro is looking forward to his chance to mark the world's best No 7.

"It's a bit of a fairytale. I'm looking forward to the game and am pretty stoked that our team gets the chance to come up against the best."

He said he had not had the chance to think about any strategies that would be employed against McCaw.

"I'm just going out there to try to keep up with him really. He's the best player I'll ever come up against - nobody would even come close."

Since finding out about the warm-up game with the All Blacks , Iro had put the Heartland side's looming tour to Argentina to the back of his mind.

"It's a little bit hard to think past the game [today]. We're definitely all excited. We just want to give it our best shot."

The Heartland team is made up of the best players from provincial rugby's divisions two and three.

It has seven players from Wairarapa Bush, six each from Poverty Bay and Wanganui, three each from North Otago and Thames Valley and one from King Country.

This week one provincial administrator expressed cynicism about today's game: "They've gone on all year about how their boys [the All Blacks] are tired. As soon as Canterbury are kicked out of the [Air NZ Cup] finals they're short on matches, and there's this wild panic to give them some game time."

The All Blacks had a lot to thank grassroots rugby for, he said.

Another source said the game was likely to be more of a training run. "I imagine it will be, 'You Heartland boys stand over there and wait for the kickoff. Right, now you Heartland boys go over to that lineout but don't compete for the ball'. Both sides won't want to dent themselves before their tours."

This week an All Black website said the selectors arranged today's game because of concern over several All Blacks being "underdone" for the tour of Britain and France.

Coach Graham Henry said the game would be good for "rhythm and contact", and hinted the game would be treated seriously.

The Heartland team fly out for their Argentinian tour this afternoon, and the All Blacks will head for the UK tomorrow evening.


The big clash

Kickoff: 10 am today.
Where: Trusts Stadium, Henderson.