Warrior’s good eyes save day

It was New Zealand Warriors’ utility back Matt Allwood’s keen eyesight that alerted rescuers to a man struggling in the surf at an Auckland beach.

The Warriors’ preseason fishing trip on Monday turned into a rescue mission – with a fortunate ending.

The team had been fishing on a boat about a kilometre off Takapuna beach when the call came in that the 20-year-old man had been swept away from the beach.

Utility back Matt Allwood spotted the man and alerted the captain of the boat he was on that he could see something unusual in the water.

‘‘It was just by chance that I saw him and we got over there,’’ he said.

Allwood, who is about to begin his third year with the Warriors, said the man was quite far away from where they were so he was glad he has good eyesight.

‘‘I’m not good with distances, but it was a fair way,’’ he said. ‘‘It looked like a little black dot, bobbing up and down and I thought it was a buoy or something.

‘I saw something in the distance and straight away I thought I’d better get up to the front of the boat and I told the captain.’’

A police rescue boat and a helicopter had joined the search for the man who had swum into a dangerous channel. He was picked up by another boat.