Thieves steal rugby star’s priceless gift to his son

An “irreplaceable” gift from former All Black Luke McAlister to his son has been stolen from a locked storage unit in Auckland.

The boy’s mother, Amanda Wilby, turned to Instagram on Saturday, using her account to plead for help to find the framed All Blacks jersey.

“We have had a very sentimental item stolen,” Wilby said, explaining it had been a gift from McAlister to their son. She later told the Herald the jersey is “super special” and cannot be easily mistaken for something else.

“It’s an All Blacks jersey, it has Luke’s name and number on it and a poppy on it so it can’t be mistaken for anything else,” Wilby said.

McAlister also wrote on the jersey in silver pen the message: “Connor Love You Dad”.

Wilby told the Herald she was

It has Luke’s name and number on it . . . so it can’t be mistaken for anything else. Amanda Wilby of the stolen All Blacks jersey

“devastated” for her son Connor McAlister-Wilby, 7, who is unaware it has been stolen. “It would have been within the last four days.

“I haven’t spoken to him about it yet — Luke and I will talk to him and try to explain it all to him,” Wilby said.

She said the jersey was in a locked storage unit in the basement of an upper Queen St apartment complex.

“[The storage unit was] just for the apartment I was in . . . I noticed the padlock was gone and something was wrong when it was all broken and the jersey was gone.

“It [the jersey] was upside down and it was covered over with sheets.” Nothing else was taken, she said. The framed jersey is special because it was worn when the All Blacks played in France. “We used to live there and all the photos are of Luke and all the teams he has played for, so it’s really thought out.

“The poppy and Connor’s birthday which is the 26th [of April] means a lot because they are around the same time. It’s priceless,” she said.

Wilby notified the police of the incident yesterday.