All Blacks talk money with youngsters

All Blacks Ben Smith and Sam Whitelock join pupils from the Orakei School for a master class in finance. Photo / Chris Loufte

With the Bledisloe Cup decider looming, you would think the All Blacks would be talking about nothing but tries and tactics.

But these men in black took time out of their busy schedule today to chat to some youngsters about a different topic: money.

All Blacks Ben Smith and Sam Whitelock - both of whom are in the starting line-up for tomorrow's match - dropped in during an ASB GetWise session at Orakei School this morning.

And if Smith was still earning pocket money, he'd definitely be pushing for a try at tomorrow's game.

"I used to get a wee bit of pocket money when I scored a try on the weekend. I don't [get that now]," he said.

"It's not too busy today, obviously the team's pretty excited. It's good to come along and be part of this."

Whitelock said his money-earning childhood was along the same lines.

"Mum and dad used to let us help out on the farm, tidy up, really any job dad didn't want to do.

"It's always cool to come to a school, the kids are pretty excited. We wind them up a bit and then the teachers have the hard job."

The financial literacy session focussed on teaching good saving habits, budgeting and knowing about the conditions when signing up for credit cards, loans or bank accounts.

Smith and Whitelock joined two tables of youngsters for the activities, and locking heads during a game to see who could build the tallest tower brought out their competitive side.

"If you just look over there, our tower's taller than their one, we don't need to worry," Whitelock taunted.

Smith urgently told his team: "We've got nothing to lose."

The school's more than 200 students then lined up to eyeball the All Blacks up close during autograph signing.

A number of the youngsters brought their own lunchboxes and bags to be signed.

Student Karissa Manuel said the visit had made her day.

"I was so happy. It was such a surprise. Ben Smith is one of my favourite players," she said.

Liam Nguyen agreed: "It's mean. They're huge, they're like MBA players."

Teacher Billy Napier said some of the youngsters were just getting their first jobs on paper runs and chatting to their idols about saving was a real treat.

"We kind of kept it reasonably hush, and just let them know this morning so they're pretty excited.

"We try to use a lot of common sense and realism when teaching about money."

ASB GetWise programme manager Julian Wilson said it was the first time All Blacks players had taken part - and the success of their attendance was obvious.

"It's great to have role models. They're certainly wonderful role models for what we teach. It's all about getting to where you want to go, and these guys just epitomise that," he said.

The ASB GetWise programme was launched in 2009 and has taught more than 500,000 Kiwi kids so far.