Tauranga Boys' College First XV players got the thrill of their rugby careers yesterday when they trained against the All Blacks on Gordon Tietjens Field at Blake Park.
For an hour the All Blacks used the boys as live defensive screens going through their attacking moves in the presence of heavy security that kept the public at bay.
The All Blacks were into day three of their second camp based at Mount Maunganui for their wider training squad.
Boys' College First XV coach Jason Spice was a prominent professional rugby player with the Hurricanes and used his longstanding association with All Blacks coach Steve Hansen to arrange the practice session.
"I have some contact with Steve so he gave me a quick phone call and asked me how quickly I could arrange my boys to come and train," Spice said. "Any excuse to get them out of school - it doesn't take much.
"We were the tacklers so it was a defensive session for us. We did get cut up a little bit but we were up against a fairly decent quality [opposition] so it has been awesome for us to look at the skill level that is required and looking at our game defensively.
"We are confident we got a lot out of it. The Super 8 is our big focus and we are starting to up the ante about how we are going about things and we are progressing pretty well."
Boys' College captain and head boy Mungo Mason said getting the chance to mix with the All Blacks and train against them in a live session was a dream come true.
"We found out Monday morning. It is pretty surreal, to be honest, and halfway through the training the boys were still grinning from ear to ear," Mason said.
"It was an amazing opportunity, something that almost no one of our standing as First XV players would have almost ever imagined. The speed they played at was just lightning compared to us, even though they were holding back.
"I had a bit of a chat with Kieran [Read] in passing about scrum technique but just to be in their presence was incredible.
"These guys are just humans like us and with hard work and the dedication these guys have, it is possible to get to that level."
Fullback Connor Fifita said the biggest lesson the team learned was not to get caught ball-watching.
"They showed us up by spreading across the whole park at pace. They are the best in the world and it was such a privilege to be able to train with them," Fifita said.
"I really enjoyed it and it was great to have Grant Fox [an All Blacks selector] behind us, directing us, and that helped. On the defensive side of things this has definitely lifted everyone."