"I was hopeful but obviously someone had to miss out and that was me. I was gutted but I shifted my mind focus pretty quickly to the next job which was preparing the boys who were playing," Ross said.
"Going over the English lineouts and their attacking moves meant at training time me and the other boys could run those moves against them. We got our boys really prepared and they knew what they were coming up against."
Ross found the standard at the tournament in Italy to be much faster than he was used to playing.
"Every level you go up the game becomes faster with ruck speed and speed off the line, and that is one thing I have taken from the 20s programme. At club level it is definitely physical but not that fast."
The New Zealand team was coached by former Mount Maunganui College star Scott "Razor" Robertson, with help from two other former All Blacks in Tana Umaga and Leon McDonald.
"I found Razor an interesting coach," Ross said. "He loves to get amongst it with the boys and is big on the finer details around the game and knows those one per centers that make a real big difference.
Ross was in the same Tauranga Boys' College First XV as Te Puke Sports teammate Dan Hollinshead and would love to play alongside him in the Steamers.
But he knows it will be tough to make the squad this year.
"There are a lot of boys that (Steamers coach) Clayton (McMillan) has had a lot more time to see rather than me because I have been away. "
