The man from Kurow met the boys and girls of Mataura yesterday and it was smiles all round.
All Black captain Richie McCaw, along with All Black team mates Colin Slade and Wyatt Crockett, visited Mataura School as part of an All Black promotion.
The three All Blacks visited the school's five classrooms, answered questions and watched the school pupils perform a haka and sing the school song.
Questions ranged from how was Slade's knee to did McCaw still play the bagpipes?
The trio then completed a mural the school had done and then finished festivities with a quick game of bullrush - touch rules only, of course.
McCaw said he always loved coming to the small places of New Zealand and the support the side received from all round the country.
''You realise how much support the team gets with something like this,'' McCaw said.
''You arrive at the airport and it is packed out and then you come up here and everyone is decked out.
''It is great to be here. One of our old team mates and a good mate was Jimmy Cowan and he used to tell us what a great place Mataura is. Told all the tales. Now we can see what he was talking about.
''A lot of players in the All Blacks come from small towns like this. I'm from a small town like this and that is the good thing about the All Blacks.
''It doesn't matter where you come from and what you are, you can all get into the team.''
McCaw said he might not think about all the support directly during a game but before the match in the preceding days he thought of the backing the team received from right around the country.
As for the World Cup, McCaw said the All Black side had plenty of talent, would give it their best and have a ''good crack''.
''I would like to think we could have the same feeling as four years ago when everyone had smiles and stuff.''
Incidentally, Slade's knee is fine and McCaw has not played the bagpipes for a while so might be a bit rusty.
McCaw declined to comment on the designs of the new New Zealand flag, saying that was the last thing he wanted to talk about.
