All Blacks wish bogan rugby team luck
Their coach rates them a ‘‘punters chance’’ of winning, but the Gore High School under-15 rugby team will have a little bit of extra luck on their shoulders heading into the South Island Under-15 CoEducational Rugby Tournament next month.
The ‘‘bogan rugby team’’ hit the headlines a fortnight ago for all getting a mullet haircut as a sign of team bonding, which was spotted on Stuff by the All Blacks.
Now two of them, Damian McKenzie, who hails from Gore, and Liam Squire, who has the same mullet haircut, have taken some time out of their buildup for the second Bledisloe test against Australia in Dunedin on Saturday to send a message of support to the team.
In the video, McKenzie said that as ‘‘a fellow Gore boy’’ he’d noticed the team had been making headlines all over the world after their haircuts hit the news and he wished them ‘‘all the best’’ for the upcoming tournament.
Squire, who sports the same haircut as the team, also wished the team all the best and said he was ‘‘enjoying seeing the mullets out there.’’
The team - which is unbeaten this season and will play a home final against Southland Boys’ High School in the Southland under-15 rugby competition this Saturday - didn’t know about the video until the players got together to watch it in a classroom yesterday morning.
They were slightly stunned when they watched it the first time and cheered and clapped on a second watching.
Team captain Hayden Michaels said the video was ‘‘really, really cool’’. ‘‘It’s quite cool that they sent a video down to us – it was quite a surprise. We’re working hard on our rugby and looking forward to the tournament.’’
Coach David Sleeman said he was ‘‘really stoked’’ the All Black players had taken the time to send a message to the team.
‘‘I know they’re pleased and they’ll be talking about it at practice tomorrow night.
‘‘The mullets are a bit of fun but the boys are taking their rugby quite seriously. They’re a great bunch of boys.