Nifty footwork helps All Black suppliers sock it to them

The All Blacks have sent out an SOS call in the middle of their World Cup campaign.

While in Australia, the All Blacks have found themselves in short supply of a vital part of their playing strip - socks.

New Zealand Sock Factory manager Euan Sparrow said his company received the call this week. He had 24 hours to produce the socks so that they could be shipped to Australia in time for the All Blacks' final pool match against Wales on Sunday.

Mr Sparrow said the team "must be eating" the socks because his company had already provided the side with more than 300 pairs of match and training socks.

He said it was an honour for the company to be providing part of the team playing strip. "It's not huge business, but it's a bit of a buzz when you see them wearing our socks."

The socks were to be shipped out yesterday.