All Blacks: Hore hopes for warm capital reception

Andrew Hore. Photo / Christine Cornege

Making their way through the obligatory media commitments almost seems more daunting for front-rowers Andrew Hore and Tony Woodcock than packing down a scrum against more than 800kgs of opposition.

The pair, who will start for the All Blacks against Canada in Wellington on Sunday alongside Owen Franks, kept it short and sharp when they sat at the top table today (Friday) to field questions from the press.

The final inquiry they answered summed it and it went along the lines of: "Do you two just love scrummaging?"

"It's a lot more fun than a media scrum, I can give you that much," Hore said, to much laughter.

Woodcock offered a slightly more measured response: "It's obviously a big part of our job, so we enjoy it."

The North Harbour stalwart will play his 80th test for the All Blacks on Sunday when he takes the field in Wellington and playing at the World Cup may have seemed a long way off earlier this year.

A foot injury kept the 119kg-loosehead prop out of action for a majority of the year, but the selectors kept the faith in his powers of recovery and Woodcock said he was nearly back to full fitness.

"Getting close, I think. Yeah."

Hardly an insightful response, but earlier in the week Assistant Coach Wayne Smith suggested that front rowers got better with more game time and Woodcock agreed.

"Like Andrew said, you know, you just enjoy getting out there playing and it's a bonus when you're in the All Blacks and getting some game time with some quality players. It's bloody enjoyable, so yeah. It's good."

Hore, who used to call Wellington home as part of the fabric of the Hurricanes before he was sensationally axed by Mark Hammett this year, said he hoped he wouldn't receive a cool reception on Sunday.

"I'd be disappointed if it wasn't everyone right behind the All Blacks, really," the soon-to-be Highlander said.

"I think it's a sell-out crowd and the whole country's been buzzing with what we are doing and if we do things right we'll hopefully get a few more people come along and watch and switch on the TV. So that's the good thing about a rugby season - you are only in one team for so long then you're in the All Blacks and everyone forgets about what happened. So it's pretty pleasing to be in the team at the moment."

The test will be the 59th for Hore, who has a chance to stake a claim as the team's premier rake ahead of the experienced Keven Mealamu, who will be on the bench.