A school day to remember

St Francis Xavier School pupil Luke Wild gets his photo taken with All Blacks (from left) Beauden...
St Francis Xavier School pupil Luke Wild gets his photo taken with All Blacks (from left) Beauden Barrett, George Moala and Joe Moody. Photos by Gerard O'Brien.
Pupils form a guard of honour for All Blacks (from left) Joe Moody, Beauden Barrett and George...
Pupils form a guard of honour for All Blacks (from left) Joe Moody, Beauden Barrett and George Moala (obscured) as they leave the school yesterday.
Millie Virtue (6) asks a question during a Q&A session with the All Black trio.
Millie Virtue (6) asks a question during a Q&A session with the All Black trio.

Luke Wild had his first serious case for regret yesterday.

The rugby-mad 6-year-old badly broke his ankle recently after jumping off a lofty piece of playground equipment, and is being pushed around in a wheelchair with his leg in a cast.

Which is no good when All Blacks Beauden Barrett, Joe Moody and George Moala visit your school - St Francis Xavier - expecting to have a run-around with the pupils.

"I shouldn't have done it,'' he rued.

"It hurt when I broke my ankle but this hurts more. I can't run around with the All Blacks. It hurts my feelings.''

The All Blacks trio tried to make up for Luke's loss by having their photo taken with him in his wheelchair and signing his cast, which comes off in about three weeks.

Needless to say, Luke says he plans to keep his autographed cast as a souvenir.

"I'm really happy to see them. They're pretty cool.

"My favourite All Black is Richie McCaw. He's not here, but these guys will do,'' he said with a wink.

Luke was just one of nearly 100 excited pupils at the school yesterday as the All Blacks arrived.

The pupils performed a haka and a song, before grilling the athletes with questions like: What's your favourite brand of shoe?

What do you like about rugby so much?

Do you have a pet?

St Francis Xavier School received the visit from the men in black after winning a competition sponsored by the Otago Daily Times, ODT Extra! and ASB.

About 50 entries were submitted from around Otago in the form of posters, videos, pictures, poems, songs and letters, showing why each school wanted a visit from the All Blacks.

School principal Craig Ward was given a signed All Black rugby jersey by the trio.

He planned to have it framed and displayed somewhere in the school as a reminder of the day the ABs visited.

john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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