*





Manu Tuilagi smashes Tom Williams


Top14 player imposter!


JDV smashed by Benoit August


The Northampton Saints 30m scrum!


Bastareaud huge hit on Rory Lamont


All Blacks skills - Pt 2 In the backyard


Trinh-Duc sets up Harinordoquy try


Wales vs England 1999


Greg Holmes great hit on Francois Louw



Friday, August 06, 2010

Richie McCaw comes to life in Whangarei

All Black captain Richie McCaw recently came to life at a Northland school as he surprised a class that had made a papier mache statue of him. A smart bit of publicity by Adidas has been put together in the form of a video that shows what happened.

Call him what you will on the field, he's an All Black great and there’s no doubting the fact that Richie McCaw is worshipped and admired not only around New Zealand, but indeed around the world.

In Northland, pupils at Raurimu Avenue School were tasked with creating a papier mache statue of McCaw that was to be entered into an art competition for by their principal – or so they were told.

Two months of hard work later, and the unveiling day came as they were set to show off their masterpiece. Little did they know, McCaw slipped in undetected and as you’ll see, the shock and surprise of the kids soon turned to joy as their statue came to life and their hero had arrived for the day.

"I thought it was the fake one but then when I saw it wasn't I got real excited," said one of the kids. Principal Sally Wilson had to keep things under wrap, telling a few lies and even going so far as to keep the secret from her husband.

"I had to tell a few lies saying I was entered in an art competition for principals and the kids really believed I was in one. Parents came down to the school to see how I was going in it," she said.

McCaw himself was humbled by the experience.

"It's something that when I was a young fella I never thought that children at a school would make a statue of me... it's a pretty amazing thing that you've done," he said.

Adidas arranged the visit as part of their Give Your All campaign that recognizes the most dedicated All Blacks fans in the country. The school have now laid down the challenge to the rest of the country.


Time: 03:55
Note: Thanks to stuff.co.nz for some of the info


Share

27 Comments:

  • such a brilliant bewildered look when they're doing the haka

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 06, 2010 7:46 pm  

  • i like richie, he seems quite humbled.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 06, 2010 8:07 pm  

  • love these kind of surprises!!

    Great stuff

    By Anonymous Stubby, at August 06, 2010 8:11 pm  

  • Thats crazy. They really are insane about their rugby...

    And the way McCaw carried himself there impressed me. It isn't easy dealing with vast amounts of screaming kids

    By Blogger Rowan DeBues, at August 06, 2010 8:12 pm  

  • Excellent Stuff.

    By Anonymous EARugbyFan, at August 06, 2010 8:20 pm  

  • Loved the vid RD.
    The man is an absolute legend.

    By Anonymous Cmon, at August 06, 2010 8:52 pm  

  • He seems a nice enough bloke. So do rugbying youngsters learn the Haka from day 1 over in NZ?

    By Anonymous Harlson, at August 06, 2010 9:13 pm  

  • I just boked in my mouth. Ch-ee-ee-ee-se.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 06, 2010 9:13 pm  

  • Brought a tear to my eye - kids rarely get the opportunities to meet their role-models. My best memories were meeting Welsh rugby players; Roberts Jones at school in the mid 80's, Phil Bennett at my village fair and then having Derek Quinell offering me a job out of the blue in 2003.

    I wish more personalities would do this.

    By Blogger A Welsh Man, at August 06, 2010 9:28 pm  

  • Someone has to do something. I have seen at least 5 "rat tails" in that class alone. How widespread is this in Nz?How can something so awful still be done to kids. I'm going to Nz for the Rwc I hope they will take care of this shameful situation before I get there.

    By Anonymous Alasdair, at August 06, 2010 10:15 pm  

  • Unfortunately the rats-tail seems to be making a comeback here, particularly in North Auckland it seems i.e Rene Ranger.

    I'll buy myself a pair of scissors and sort the problem out by the time you get here :-)

    By Anonymous Smon7, at August 06, 2010 11:02 pm  

  • it was all just a adidas PR campaign. Using kids to push your brand is almost as bad as Nikes use of Tiger´s dead Dad.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 07, 2010 12:17 am  

  • @anon ^ yeah I'm sure the kids and teachers were terribly upset that thanks to adidas they were able to have a living legend visit their school.

    By Anonymous Nerk, at August 07, 2010 12:23 am  

  • HOLY SHIT OUR PAPER-MACHE FIGURE HAS COME ALIVE!!!! ....IT'S ALIVE!!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 07, 2010 12:48 am  

  • Awesome video, good day for the kids! Was in Whangarei about a month back and it's a really cool place. The falls were awesome the day after this massive storm but I digress...I like how he showed genuine respect for these younguns doing the haka. Looks like a genuine bloke and not a bad player either....

    By Anonymous ya boy, at August 07, 2010 1:25 am  

  • good for the kids, but that paper maches hair scares the living hell out of me! It also seems like when McCaw first looks at it he doesn't know what to make of, but brilliant of him to go to their school, they'll remember that for a while!

    By Anonymous Tom, at August 07, 2010 3:32 am  

  • I just gained so much respect for Richie, hats of to him for doing that!

    By Anonymous Canadianscrumhalf, at August 07, 2010 5:35 am  

  • cheers Smon7 but don't do it for me... Do it for the kids! ;)

    By Anonymous Alasdair, at August 07, 2010 6:58 am  

  • Those rat tails look awesome. Don't care what anyone else says.

    Beats all the metrosexualis in the UK looking like David Beckham

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 07, 2010 12:06 pm  

  • Haha Richie MaCaw. 'Hey guys.....happy friday.' Arnie Schwarzenegger couldn't have delivered it better!

    I wish someone had come to my School and done that. They should do it more often, give the kids more incentive to get out there and play the game!!

    By Blogger Alexander, at August 07, 2010 12:32 pm  

  • the ABs spend a lot of time out in the community, pretty good stuff.

    By Anonymous olwakachangchang, at August 07, 2010 1:58 pm  

  • i wish i was a new zealand kid :( haha

    By Anonymous rosh, at August 07, 2010 7:21 pm  

  • this is brilliant. i remember when i was about this age the highlight of me was having the nth harbour team train about 5 minutes down from where i lived. buck shelford was captain at the time & all i remember was being in awe of him walking next to him thinking it's buck shelford that day has always stuck with me & i'm now 30. adidas pr stunt, whatever you call it, it's absolutely amazing and anyone who frowns on it & doesn't feel good about it is pretty heartless. an awesome gesture from adidas, the all blacks & richie mccaw, brilliant

    By Blogger THEROCK01, at August 08, 2010 11:15 am  

  • i bet he cheated when playing with those kids at the end.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 08, 2010 11:55 am  

  • rats tails = spartans (from the film 300 - see King Leonidas)

    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/09/17/article-1057070-050F37D70000044D-98_468x465.jpg

    This is sparta!

    By Anonymous King Leonidas, at August 08, 2010 1:28 pm  

  • "So do rugbying youngsters learn the Haka from day 1 over in NZ?"

    Yes..

    My cousins are Maori and live not too far from there actually. were they live anyway they kinda treat hakas much like we might have chorus or band practise or something.
    U go to haka practise after school and schools have there own hakas specific to their school and region. Its pretty unique. They even have competitions against other schools.

    By Anonymous dr, at August 12, 2010 1:15 pm  

  • what a gent

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 17, 2010 12:27 pm  

Please note: All comments are moderated and will be removed immediately if offensive.

Post a Comment

<< Home




Missed out on recent posts? View by monthly archive
July 2011 | June 2011 | May 2011 | April 2011 | March 2011 | February 2011

 

PARTNERS & FRIENDS
Ultimate Rugby Sevens | Frontup.co.uk | Whatsisrugby.com | RossSkeate.com | Fusebox | Olympic-rugby.org
The Rugby Blog | Blogspot rugby | Free Sports Video Guide | Lovell Rugby Blog | Lerugbynistere | Free Betting Offers

All videos featured are hosted externally and property of the respective video sharing platforms.
Rugbydump features and archives them in an effort to promote the game worldwide.
Copyright © 2010 Rugbydump