It was an emotional moment for Tauranga born-and-bred Luke Braid when he walked into Baypark Stadium with his Blues teammates on Saturday night.
It was the first time he had played against either of his old teams, the Chiefs or Bay of Plenty, at the ground and he forgot who
he was playing for when he ran past the away dressing room and headed to the home team's room after warming-up.
Braid says he got a bit of stick from his Blues mates about that and admits signing for Auckland ahead of this year's ITM Cup was a big decision for him to make after he played his 50th game for the Steamers last year.
"It is for personal reasons because I am sick of moving around but it was a really hard decision," said Braid. "I ... decided it was better for me to be up there full time.
"But I was happy to show my loyalty and play those 50 games for the Bay, which is one of the proudest things in my rugby career so far. I have loved playing for the Bay. It is that underdog mentality and the games we got up to beat Canterbury, Auckland last year, and all the big five teams regularly, are definitely highlights for me."
