All Blacks rise above Prince

Prince William shares a laugh with All Blacks Tana Umaga and Richie McCaw at Western Springs Stadium yesterday. Picture / Kenny Rodger

The All Blacks were unable to get a rise out of Prince William by irreverent jibing about the score of Saturday's test - he responded with a diplomatic laugh.

But they got the last laugh and proved they were wily off the field as well as on it.

Come time for the photo line-up, as if by magic 2.02m-tall locks Chris Jack and Ali Williams ended up in just the right positions to make the 1.9m Prince look veritably puny.

The initial plan to watch the team at a public training session fell through when the players scotched the session, pleading battle weariness.

Instead, they popped out the back of Western Springs Stadium to meet William when he arrived clad casually in faded jeans, battered sneakers and a sky-blue shirt with a navy jersey over it.

William's open allegiance is to the Lions, so walking into the All Black pack must have felt somewhat like ... well ... walking into the lion's den.

But the All Blacks appeared happy to make his acquaintance for the first time.

Carl Hayman, 25, reported the general consensus was the 23-year-old Prince "seems a nice young man" and "a likeable chap". Sitiveni Sivivatu said it was a chance in a lifetime to meet the Prince, but he couldn't really understand why everyone made a big deal about him.

Jono Gibbes noted the Prince's obvious affiliation with the other side without rancour.

"He's quite humble and had a real presence about him. He said he'd had a great time at the game and enjoyed the atmosphere. A few of the group stuck it to him about the score, but he just laughed."

However, questions have been raised in the British media about whether Prince William's visit is paling for the very ones he came over to support.

Last week he devoted to convivial chats, kicking lessons, coffees, drinks and invitations to training sessions with the Lions.

But when he kept the team playing with a football at Porirua for an hour while they waited for his tardiness, there must come a point when the royal prince becomes a royal pest.

In a scathing piece casting blame for the losses on Clive Woodward, the Guardian's Richard Williams pointed out the presence of the Prince as inappropriate:

"A British prince could mean little to those members of the party with Republic of Ireland passports.

"And how would New Zealanders feel about their future monarch taking his seat in Wellington's Cake Tin as a supporter of the opposition?"

Whether New Zealanders really care about this is debatable. Certainly in TV One's Test the Nation quiz last week, only about 13 per cent of the 11,000 taking part correctly picked the Queen as our head of state.

And from the muted response of the crowd when Prince William's car drove past them yesterday, his presence is a novelty and a curiosity.

In comparison, the crowd went wild when the All Blacks walked into the marquee to sign autographs.

Today, Prince William will lunch with the All Blacks after a morning visit to the Starship children's hospital with, you guessed it, some of the Lions.