A large group of All Blacks players and management have visited a maximum security prison in Buenos Aires and trained with the rugby-playing inmates.
Mental aptitude coach Gilbert Enoka and scrum coach Mike Cron took 13 players to the facility on their day off to mix with 60 prisoners who form the facility's Spartans rugby club.
It follows a similar exercise by the England rugby team when they toured Argentina in June last year.
The All Blacks included Sonny Bill Williams, Reiko Ioane, Richie Mo'unga, Scott Barrett, Tim Perry, Nathan Harris, Ardie Savea, and Nehe Milner-Skudder.
The prisoners were given yellow training jerseys and put through some drills by the All Blacks who spent about 90 minutes at the facility.
"It was unforgettable, the doors of Spartans are open all for to come to play," Spartans captain Gabriel Marquez said in a report in La Nacion.
Marquez had a Pumas shirt signed by Argentina great Juan Martin Hernandez under his yellow jersey and collected autographs of some of the All Blacks on it.
The All Blacks gave the Spartans a signed shirt which the prisoners will hang in their club headquarters.
The All Blacks completed the training session with a rousing haka.
The facility is part of the Espartanos project that now has 300 inmates involved in rugby
at prisons around Argentina that include Tucaman, Misiones, Ushuaia, Juiuy and Salta.
“Espartanos has changed the life of the prison," Pablo Gascue, the man in charge of the facility the All Balcks visited, said.
The All Blacks play Argentina in a Rugby Championship test on Sunday (NZT).
by Stuff.co.nz
