Annemarie Quill: Rugby makes me fit for citizenship

It has been 12 years since I moved to New Zealand but it was only this week that I became a New Zealander.

Not by citizenship, but in 'getting' how Kiwis roll.

I don't know how to grill the perfect steak on the barbie. I would never go barefoot on the beach. I can't say Te Puke without everyone laughing.

But suddenly it seems I've made an overnight conversion to the Kiwi religion-rugby.

So much so that this week I have turned down VIP invitations for fashion week in favour of hanging out with some rugby guys.

Twelve years ago when I moved to New Zealand and met my brother-in-law for the first time, he asked me what was my favourite sport. I replied I didn't really like sport. He shot me a look of such shock and horror as though they were welcoming a mass murderer into the family.

To change the subject I commented how it was quaint that all the houses here had bird baths on the end of the paths. He maintained his look of stupefaction before saying bluntly,

"They are not bird baths, they are mail boxes."

It was one of my many baptisms into this strange land at the bottom of the Earth, where although they spoke the same language (kind of) as the country I came from, most other similarities ended there.

At first I didn't think I would survive without shops and 24-hour takeaways. Everyone outside of Auckland seemed to go to sleep at 8pm, as I discovered driving through Matamata for the first time and wondering where everyone was. And I still have never managed the art of not dressing up to go out. At the first barbecue I was invited to when the host opened the door, they said, 'You look fancy, are you going on somewhere afterwards?'

But 12 years on, I found myself this week choosing rugby over a runway. I turned down a string of VIP invites to shows at New Zealand Fashion Week, which kicks off on Monday.

I had something else on, I told my friend. "Like what?" she demanded. "What the heck could be more important? I mean' it's not like you have a hot date with Richie McCaw or anything."

Sadly I don't. But Richie - and his mates - were partly behind the reason I turned down a trip to fashion week. The All Blacks are in Tauranga next week for a three-day training camp to keep their engines tuned before selection for the Rugby World Cup.

The camp, run by All Blacks' strength and conditioning coach Nic Gill who lives in Tauranga, will take place from August 25-27, just days before the All Blacks World Cup squad will be announced on August 30. For the camp, Dr Gill, in his eighth year working with the All Blacks, would be running outdoor sessions in the Bay, as well as using the high-performance area that he heads at the new Aspire Health and Sports facilities that opened its doors in Bethlehem last month.

Since the club has opened myself and Will Johnston from The Hits Bay of Plenty have been undertaking a six-week challenge with two of Aspire's trainers. My trainer - an endurance athlete - had asked me what time suited me to train.

"First thing in the morning is good for me," was my reply.

"Good, that suits me as I get up at 4am every morning for a run".

Gulp. I was thinking more like 9am after school drop off. But 5am it was.

But all this hanging out at the gym has its rewards I soon discovered. Not just the cacao blissballs and Mojo coffee which I cannot go past at the gym's cafe. But 'celebrity' spotting. So far I've bumped into All Blacks Charlie Faumuina and Steven Luatua. And New Zealand 100m sprint champion Kodi Harman.

Sport may have its moments after all.

Last Saturday before the Bledisloe Cup I asked the sports writer Peter White where he was watching the game. He was taken aback as normally I ask him things like where he buys his shirts.

My kids looked astonished when I settled down in front of the television to watch the game.

My work colleagues eyed me sceptically as the next day I unfurled a poster of Richie McCaw and stuck it by my desk, with the slogan, "I don't believe in magic, I believe in hard work."

Me too Richie.

It has in some ways been hard work becoming a New Zealander. Like many immigrants here, it is hard fitting in and understanding a culture and people that are so different to what you have known.

I never thought I would be talking about rugby and now here I am writing about it.

I find myself excited about getting up early in the morning to watch World Cup matches. Despite my country of birth, it will be the All Blacks I will be cheering for.

Does this mean I am finally a Kiwi?

In the meantime I will carry on with my early morning sessions at Aspire.

Managing to bump into you Richie will be hard work. But it will definitely be magic.