Black and blue: Who to cheer for?
THEY were the boys in powder blue, rather than the men in black, but the colour was of little consequence to fans and critics at a very public training run in Lower Hutt.
A crowd of more than 6000 packed the Hutt Recreation Ground last night to cheer, jeer and cajole the All Blacks squad through their training match – the first half against Canterbury, the second against Wellington.
And even the pint-sized punters were taking no prisoners. ‘‘What a shocker,’’ a young boy said, as Frances Saili threw a wide pass out of play in the first half. ‘‘Nooooo!’’ another yelled, as Aaron Smith dropped the ball.
The All Blacks beat Canterbury 19-0 in their 40 minutes, while Wellington proved a tougher match, going down 12-7 after leading 7-5.
‘‘It was really good,’’ fan Cullen Dexter, 14, said. ‘‘But the All Blacks didn’t do as well as I thought.’’ Their passing and kicking were not great, he said.
Brother Cambyl, 10, whose favourite player was Israel Dagg, said it was ‘‘awesome’’, before the boys rushed off to get autographs.
The ground began to fill up early, with families lining up outside more than an hour before kickoff.
Tawa dad Jamie Collier was taking no chances, and picked up children Angelina Shlimon, 8, and Zaya Shlimon, 9, from school at lunchtime to avoid the rush. They arrived at Hutt Rec at 1.20pm, and had prime seats at the front of the grandstand.
‘‘We just couldn’t miss out on an opportunity like this,’’ Mr Collier said. ‘‘You can’t watch the All Blacks for under $100 at the stadium, so this is just great.’’
Tickets to the game of three halves cost $10, with every adult allowed to bring a kid for free.
Zaya, sporting a fluorescent wig, stripey glasses and waving a Lions flag, explained that, as his grandad was from Christchurch, they were supporting all three teams.
Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace, who had his young nephew in tow, said the matches were a fantastic chance for kids to see their sporting heroes in person.
‘‘It’s just absolutely awesome, this is what it’s all about. For a lot of these youngsters, they would never be able to get to the stadium, and this is a great way of getting them up close to their role models and showing them that anything is possible.’’
Five low-decile Hutt Valley schools were given tickets to the game, including 40 pupils from Naenae Primary School. ‘‘Go All Blacks, win!’’ friends Kiana Mataira and Grace Peseta, both 10, were yelling, long before the team appeared.
‘‘Fun, excited, can’t wait until it starts,’’ Kiana said, black face-paint smeared on her cheeks. ‘‘Wellington are awesome, no matter what happens.’’
The girls planned to get the autographs of Ma’a Nonu, Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and Julian Savea, and were holding out hope that someone would get tackled right in front of them.
‘‘Did you know we got free tickets? We didn’t have to pay or anything,’’ Grace said.