Cold comfort for All Blacks

The All Blacks have begun their final World Cup warm-up at a snow-bound training camp in the south island of New Zealand.

The town of Ashburton - about 50 miles south of Christchurch - had a decent dump of snow last weekend and seems an unlikely location to prepare for the rock-hard grounds and high temperatures the Kiwis will experience in Australia.

Across the Tasman Sea, their Aussie rivals, the Wallabies, are revelling in 30 degree temperatures at their northern New South Wales base of Coffs Harbour.

The All Blacks, who are to be based in Ashburton for five days, will be the last of the 20 competing teams to arrive in Australia next Wednesday, with the tournament kicking off on October 10.