An awesome day with the ABs

Q AND A: Dan Carter answers a question posed by Awapuni School student Ahenata Cotter-Luke during the All Blacks to the Nation visit to the school yesterday. Ahenata asked the first five-eighth how high could he kick a ball. Carter said he had been trying for a while now but was yet to hit the roof of Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr indoor stadium. All three visiting ABs answered questions, played tabloid sports with the students and visited classrooms during their day in Gisborne. Their visit also featured a session at Rugby Park, attended by hundreds of children and adult rugby fans.

CHEERS erupted as they marched through the doors of the Awapuni School hall. At last the All Blacks were here.

Dan Carter, TJ Perenara and Charlie Faumuina arrived late after their plane was delayed but that did not stop them from spending plenty of time with the kids.

The school sang the national anthem then erupted into the haka that won them a visit from the ABs. Carter said Awapuni’s display of pride was one of the reasons he loved the East Coast.

“It is great to be here in Gisborne, especially at your wonderful school. That was an amazing haka,” he said.

“That is a big part of why we love coming to this part of New Zealand. You really pride yourself on your haka and the way you performed it was awesome.”

Carter likened the students’ performance to a familiar sporting ritual of the team’s.

“The way you sang the anthem reminded me of when I am next to my All Black teammates before we play a test match.”

Three students presented gifts to the three ABs. In return they gave the school a signed All Blacks jersey. Year 6 student Faith Whitley gave the gift to Carter.

“I was a bit nervous,” she said.

“I think it is really cool they have come here, though, because we do not usually get stuff like this because we are so small.”

Questions to the ABsStudents lined up to ask the three All Blacks various questions. A new-entrant five-year-old mistook Faumuina as Carter and asked the prop what foot he kicked with.

Carter whispered to Perenara “probably with his shin” before Faumuina responded.

“I would probably get in a bit of trouble if I kicked the ball but if I had to, it would be with my right foot.”

Another student asked Perenara how he knew when to pass the ball at the right moment.

“Well, you usually have Dan yelling at you so that is probably the best moment to do it because if you do not give it to him when he wants it you get an earful after the game.”

Carter responded with a lighthearted jab of his own in answer to the question, “how far can you kick the ball?”

“Well, TJ thinks he is the best kicker on the team and I am pretty old now so I cannot kick it as far as I used to, but in Pretoria in South Africa I kicked a goal from 62 metres one day.”

After the Q and A time, the kids and the ABs went outside to play tabloid sports, with the guest stars switching between teams to hang out with as many of the youngsters as they could.

Room three teacher Gaelyn Mann said the kids were in awe.

“We are out on such a limb so we do miss out on a lot of things. It is really cool for the school because they all contributed to the video (that won them the visit) so it is like ‘wow, because of us they are here’.”

The trio also visited different classrooms.

“It is pretty cool that we get to play games with them,” said five-year-old rugby player and All Black fan Finn Ferguson.

“I felt happy when they were walking through the doors and I think they thought our haka was really good.”