"He said he was going back to New Zealand.
"I said, why has it taken you so long to decide this?
"He said, I faced the haka and realised I was on the wrong team."
When Mr Morris told his wife his reason for leaving she cried. They return to Hawke's Bay in 18 months' time once daughter Jemma finishes university.
David Morris is a student at Waikato University and plays premier-grade rugby for Waikato.
His parents won't be returning to full-time farming. He set them in a different direction when he forgot to bring his gear bag home after rugby practice at a shared sports ground.
The rugby uniform was easily replaced but his headgear proved more difficult. It was the end of the season and none were on retail shelves.
"Online Canterbury headgear was $146 and I thought, this is wrong."
Mr Morris visited Chinese online website Alibaba and emailed manufacturers, who sent samples.
A prototype was designed and sent to Ireland where the International Rugby Board gave its approval so he travelled to China and arranged manufacture.
With the help of three fathers, befriended on their sons' rugby side-line, he formed apparel company Paladin Sports.
Today, headgear forms just 1 per cent of business. Last year, sales included 20,000 rugby jerseys to 2500 schools and clubs. Paladin has offices in Australia, Singapore, New York, London and New Zealand.
Mr Morris owns the New Zealand arm of Paladin and signed the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union to a three-year sponsorship and apparel agreement starting this season.
He said it was his greatest measure of success so far, because it completed the circle with Hawke's Bay and was the first top-tier deal - most sales were at grassroots school/club level or direct from its website.
The first sale was to Hamilton Boys' High School, the reigning world first XV school rugby team at the time.
Mr Morris Photoshopped a picture of the winning team adding Paladin headgear - the original showed players with three different headgear types/colours.
The school was ambivalent towards his presentation until he showed them his doctored picture, the original featuring large in the school reception area.
"They said, 'Wow, we'll buy 200'."
As he was leaving, he was asked if he could also supply corner posts. He said, of course.
A fellow director/father sold 150 to a school in Australia and was asked if Paladin could also supply rugby jerseys. He said, of course.
Mr Morris was not your usual farmer, graduating with a double major in maths and physics before becoming entering financil services. In summer, he would walk to the waterfront in his three-piece and roll up his pants, bare feet dangling while he ate his lunch.
With Mrs Morris, a farmer's daughter from Hawke's Bay, he bought 100 acres in Maramarua.
The budget was tight when he went to buy bull calves to first stock the farm. Prices were high but the last lot was affordable and he won it, before realising they were heifers.
Despite the embarrassment, he prospered as a farmer, buying a nearby block and then agreeing his wife's family that if he was serious about farming he should buy in Hawke's Bay where farm prices were more affordable than the Auckland fringe.
Mrs Morris' father was a Waipawa farmer after a reconnaissance he suggested several farms for Tim to cold call.
"When you fly over a farm you see everything like dams and fencing - you can't hide anything."
He bought a farm 15 minutes drive from Havelock North and several years later bought Kiwirua Station on the Napier/Taihape road.
He intensified the farm, turning 15 paddocks into 80 and grazed Castle Peak, a 2400 acre Roger Dickie pine plantation.
"I was always conscious you have to have a balanced income. Farming has been through some pretty hard years so we started doing these reading glasses."
It was his own idea, cheap reading glasses, now a common feature in department stores.
Searching for a business venture he was aware of the high costs of shipping, so searched "for something small with a good margin".
He "Googled and Googled and Googled" before contacting a Chinese manufacturer and receiving a sample. He then travelled to China with a friend that spoke Mandarin and made an order for six styles.
While he did no market validation, he was aware of the difficulty New Zealand firms often had when expanding onto Australia.
"I thought, why not do the opposite? Build up your market base in Australia then copy it to New Zealand."
He met with buyers for department chain Big W, who liked his proposition, especially their 300 per cent mark-up.
Mr Morris wasn't a fan of their terms and having sold out of the spectacle business was still averse to retail.
He said he has made an exception with Hawke's Bay rugby gear, selling replica rugby jerseys through Mitre 10 because the hardware chain's sponsorship of the National Provincial Championship - the Mitre 10 Cup.
The Hawke's Bay Rugby Union wanted Magpies supporters in black and white "but at the moment you can't".
"If you bought a replica jersey from Rebel Sport last year it was about $150 dollars. This year you can buy one of ours from Mitre 10 for $89.99.
Paladin sells both on-field and off-field apparel. "We want everybody in the product. Our margins are good enough, despite all the designers in Sydney."
Paladin's emphasis on design, pricing and service "is going to just win the market" after being let down by other products' quality and price. "It is the service part where we impress everybody. I've just shared our massive secret weapon with our competitors by saying that."
It's likely he will buy a rural property on his return home. He said nothing beats moving a mob of sheep with a few good dog. "That's all I wanted to do, just farm. I just love it, but first there's Paladin."
