All Blacks, rock stars come out to play HD

BRILLIANT sunshine, excited fans, powerful haka, and even rock stars came together to celebrate the visit of four Rugby World Cup All Blacks in Gisborne yesterday. Ardie Savea, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara and Dane Coles were warmly received when they visited Mangapapa School and at a public event at Rugby Park. Mayor Rehette Stoltz welcomed the ABs at the park, where a crowd covering half the field flocked to see the boys in black. A special guest appearance by New Zealand band Six60 proved equally popular, with news of them being part of the visiting contingent only breaking yesterday morning. The four ABs — all members of the Hurricanes Super Rugby squad — tackled 100-metre-plus queues of fans lined up for autographs. Mitre 10 worker Michelle Leaf,was almost as popular, with the handing out of rugby balls and a sausage sizzle. “What an amazing event Gisborne has put on and the weather today is beautiful,” she said. Gisborne Boys’ High School students performed a haka to the ABs and Six60. Other students made their way to the park by bus, car and even foot — coming from as far as Ruatoria. Ngata College student Angel Mitchell said she appreciated the bus service provided to her school. “That was cool that we didn’t have to pay, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have come.” Go Bus added another bus and brought in over 300 students. “It was a pleasure to work with Go Bus on such a quick turnaround project,” said Eastland Community Trust chief executive Gavin Murphy. “Their team really hustled to make sure no one missed out.” Seeing the ABs was the main reason for many. Not Gisborne Girls’ High student Oakley Edmonds. “I’m here for Six60.” she admitted. Lead singer Matiu Walters opened their short performance with a te reo Maori version of their song Don’t Forget Your Roots. It proved a crowd favourite and had young and not-so-young holding their phones in the air to record the special moment. “That was really cool because that was our first time playing that song,” said Walters. The band wanted to “thank everyone for all of their support . . . and wish the boys well in their upcoming trip and acknowledge how far they’ve come to get here”. It was clear locals appreciated such a great excuse to get out in the sun yesterday. As did the ABs, who ignored orders while visiting Mangapapa School, whose team finished runners-up at the national Rippa Rugby tournament in Wellington earlier in the week. “We were told the players weren’t allowed to play Rippa against our students,” said Mangapapa assistant principal Fiona Donnelly. “We were told our ground is too uneven and the players might get injured. “But all of a sudden Ardie and TJ came up to me and said ‘we’re playing’.” Mangapapa Rippa Rugby team member Hine Brooking said it was a “good experience to play with some of the top players in the world”. Summing up the day, assistant principal Donnelly said “we’ve created a sea of black because we’re backing black”. “We want to reach for excellence here and th