All Black great and a little joie de vivre will feature at next week's launch of public ticket sales for the Carisbrook test.
Graham Mourie will be the special guest at an event in the Octagon on Friday to mark the start of the period where fans south of the Waitaki can get in first for tickets to the test against France on June 13.
The event will include a "waiters' race", where teams from Dunedin's hotels and cafes will compete to deliver drinks to mayors from Otago and Southland.
Test organising committee chairman Paul Dwyer said it was originally hoped to have Mourie paired with French great Jean-Pierre Rives.
Both played on the openside flank and the pair were opposing captains in the 1979 series in New Zealand.
"We just haven't been able to get Jean-Pierre," Dwyer said.
Former All Black captain Buck Shelford was also asked but is unavailable, while Dwyer said the committee had also considered approaching former Otago and All Black captain Taine Randell.
Mourie played 61 games (21 tests) for the All Blacks between 1976 and 1982.
He also coached Wellington and the Hurricanes and is a member of the New Zealand Rugby Union board.
The test ticket launch will start in the Octagon at 12.30pm on Friday.
Tickets have been available for rugby club members for a few weeks, with about 5700 being sold.
Southern fans will get until May 10 to buy their tickets before they go on national sale.
Meanwhile, the Otago Secondary School Sports Association has enlisted All Black captain Richie McCaw to speak at its traditional leaders' breakfast the week of the test.
All 23 secondary schools in Otago may take up to five pupils to the June 9 breakfast, which is arranged by the OSSSA in conjunction with Otago Boys High School's Foundation.
