Affable All-Blacks a wee bit special - to my eyes anyway

TUESDAY evening, my first day in Marseille following the All-Blacks for the 2007 rugby World Cup, and we’re notified that they will be training at Stade Jean Bouin the following morning at 9.30am, and that we may have ‘vision access for the first 20 minutes.’

See the All-Blacks in training? You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, so off I go, Stade Jean Bouin plugged into the sat nav, reached in record time.

9.30 came, and 9.30 went; eventually, however, they arrived, ambled across the tartan track surrounding the pristine pitch, wearing an assortment of tops – some in sleeveless white, some wearing the new body-hugging adidas vests, some in All-Black t-shirt; there was also an assortment of fashion accessories — sunglasses, flip-flops, sandals, sneakers. They spend a few minutes joking and jostling, and really, at this stage, you could be looking at any group of young bucks away on a holiday.