It seems strange that a concept which originated in America can be such a hit in Northland, and New Zealand.
Like many great ideas, Wild Haggis co-owner Deb Mair's custom made rugby skills ball stems from a simple concept: how to catch and pass a rugby ball.
The custom rugby ball has small hands printed on it to indicate where, and how, hands should be positioned when performing a spin pass, lineout throw, and a two-handed catch or pass.
The concept behind the ball came from one of Wild Haggis' co-owners who was teaching at a school which had a class of 25 deaf students.
As you could imagine, without knowing how to communicate with a deaf person, teaching students how to play rugby was difficult, let alone how to catch and pass a ball properly. So, Wild Haggis created a ball which had hand prints on it to show students where to place their hands.
"The original idea was just to tell them where to put their hands," explained Mair, who lives in Whareora. "He [Wild Haggis' co-owner] couldn't keep trying to talk to them or have a translator or signer, so he just said 'look this is the ball and how to play with it'."
Since then, Mair and her Wild Haggis prototype has been thrown around by many as the simple idea of how to catch and pass was re-taught with an effective tool.
"From there, we said 'why don't we do it for rugby unions here?' The New Zealand Rugby Football Union have been outstanding, the junior development manager loved it. You give it to a kid, a kid will know in 30 seconds what to do with it, [but], you give it to an adult and an adult has got to evaluate it and think how to put it into practice. You don't need to do that, you just put your hands on it and throw it, that's how you use it."
Mair knew she was onto a winner when the ex-Scotland representative - in soccer, yachting and kayaking - put two students who had no sporting background to the test.
"After two weeks we had two kids who weren't sporty, no co-ordination were told by their coaches that they had to take a step back and stop doing spin passes. In two weeks they'd become the best in their team, from the worst probably, in two weeks of playing with it.
"We knew we were onto a winner when we could get two boys, who have got no outside influence, to being co-ordinated and to have such improvement."
As a result of its impact with junior rugby players, the first batch of 500 was snapped up by schools, clubs and parents from Cape Reinga to Invercargill. The second shipment, of 2000, is on its way to New Zealand and will be on sale at The Clearance Shed and online at wildhaggis.co.nz by the end of the month.
So far the Australian, Queensland, and New South Wales Rugby Unions have got onboard with the ball. Locally, Whangarei Boys' High School, Kerikeri High School, Dargaville High School, Takahiwai Club, Kamo rugby junior levels, Mid Western juniors, and parents have snapped up balls.
Mair and her Wild Haggis workmates have not done too bad considering their company started in a schoolyard in Scotland with three kids aged 9-10 dreaming about starting a sports business. Now, Wild Haggis is classed as New Zealand's leading custom ball maker with representatives based in Scotland, America and Northland.
Want to win one of Wild Haggis' rugby balls? Answer the following question for your chance to win: Who is the Northlander playing for the All Blacks in tonight's match against France? Email your answer to sports@northernadvocate.co.nz by midday on Monday.