ANENDRA SINGH
It was an awkward and worrying time for Alby Mathewson yesterday morning before he jetted off early today for Ireland to join the touring All Blacks.
The Hawke's Bay-born rugby player was inundated with phone calls from well-wishers congratulating him but he had not been officially notified of his selection.
"I had lots of people phoning me from six in the morning because they had heard it on the radio or TV," a delighted Mathewson told SportToday.
"The ABs manager [Darren Shand] didn't call me until about 8.30. I was getting a bit worried and it was awkward but I thanked all the callers and told them I hadn't been informed yet," said the former Hawke's Bay secondary school representative who was still trying to contact some of his family members in Australia yesterday afternoon.
The 22-year-old commerce degree student jetted out of Auckland early this morning. He replaces Andy Ellis who headed home last night after a rib cartilage was displaced during the All Blacks 32-6 defeat of Scotland on Sunday.
Ellis was the third halfback in the squad with Jimmy Cowan and Mathewson's Wellington teammate, Piri Weepu.
Mathewson said the call-up happened "pretty fast".
"I was pretty happy with my performance in the NPC [Air New Zealand Cup] but I was disappointed I didn't get a call up. Then I thought I'm pretty young and I've got time on my side," said the former Hastings Boys' High School (HBHS) pupil who has played alongside Kelt Capital Magpies and next year's Super 14 franchise players such as All Black Hika Elliot and Karl Lowe at school and Zac Guildford as a Canes player.
Mathewson's former HBHS first XV backline coach Mark Nicol, who also received a call from Mathewson late yesterday morning, said as a schoolboy he missed out on Hawke's Bay teams for various circumstances when he should have been in there.
"It was a two-way street. In the early days a bit happened. He didn't go to trials as a 16-year-old - and you know what they can be like - so the selectors were not so sure about his commitment," said the Cape Physio physiotherapist of Mathewson who caught the eyes of Wellington selectors. "He came from an unfortunate background and not a huge amount of support and with his father's [the late Michael] head injury and all that. His uncle, Tony McAra, and his partner took Alby on and they were good for him."
Mathewson's mental fortitude is best captured in his kicking prowess in a schoolboy game one year when HBHS were leading by about 60 points. He put his hand up to take the conversions and penalties once regular kicker James Rosenberg left the field.
"I said to Alby that it looked a bit easy with the right foot and he agreed and said he'd kick with his left," Nicol said. "Blow me down, he placed the ball on the tee, took three steps back and put it right between the sticks. He's a bright kid with a good head on his shoulders."
Nicol vividly recalled "the quiet achiever's" commitment to training.
"He was always serious to the extent that one day he punched a forward and one of his best friends [Sam Lawrence] because he was cheating by sneaking up on him in the ruck," he said with a laugh.
HBHS teacher and the then first XV forwards coach Craig McCracken said his former protege was self-motivated to succeed.
"He was dedicated and always prepared to make sacrifices," said McCracken, who missed out by a week on a small side bet when picking Mathewson to make the ABs ahead of Elliot.
"The whole school is very proud of their two All Blacks," said McCracken, who won the ASB Hawke's Bay Secondary School Sports Award for coaching rugby in 2004. Mathewson, who with Elliot was part of the HBHS first XV team that won the Moascar Cup, the Ranfurly Shield of schoolboy rugby, the Super 8 and the Top Four secondary schools' title, said: "It was a pretty special time."
No doubt another momentous occasion will be running on to the park in Britain for his first ABs cap.
RUGBY - Alby jets off to join All Blacks
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