KEY POINTS:
The two men killed as they rode on top of a freight train will be laid to rest beside each other at a small North Canterbury cemetery this week.
Nick Upritchard, 23, of Amberley and Cole Higginson, 25, from Omihi, died instantly after striking a footbridge in northern
Christchurch on Monday.
They were riding on top of a tarpaulin-covered wagon on a train travelling from Picton.
Speaking exclusively to the Herald on Sunday yesterday, Nick's father Jim said he was at work when he found out.
"Nick had been at home on Sunday night but he went out. When he hadn't come home on Monday night I got a bit concerned and did a ring-around," he said.
"Then, on Thursday, police turned up at the vineyard where I work and said, 'I'm sorry, but your son's dead'. It's terrible. He died two weeks before his birthday."
Nick's funeral will be on Tuesday afternoon. Jim said his son would be cremated and his ashes buried in the Glenmark Cemetery "beside Higgy".
Jim said laying the men to rest together was fitting because they had been friends since primary school and had played club and representative rugby together.
"They were together in life and now they will be together in death."
Jim said the family was coping pretty well and he was due to see his son's body today.
"That will be a really tough one for me - I can tell you that. But I sent a bag of clothes to the undertaker for him. He's got all his rugby gear - his jersey, his boots. The whole lot is going in there with him. He'd want it."
Nick, the cousin of All Black, Crusaders and Canterbury star Scott Hamilton, had already represented North Canterbury.
"He was a really good little winger, really fast," said Jim. "If he played next year he'd be playing for Canterbury with Scott."
Nick and Cole played for the Glenmark-Cheviot division two team.
The team played yesterday in the Pickering Shield Challenge and wore black armbands to commemorate the dead men. They stood for a minute's silence before kick-off and draped the duo's match jerseys on chairs at the halfway line.
Nick's brother Ashley, who gave up rugby about six weeks ago, returned for the game. "He gave up because he was too busy, but he's come back for Nick," said Jim.
One of the Upritchards' neighbours, who did not want to be named, said she had known Nick, who worked for a roading contractor, for about three years.
"He was such a fun-loving guy," she said. "Just last week when it snowed we had a huge snowball fight in the street. I still have a bruise from where he got me.
"They said in the media that he was an adrenalin junky but that was wrong. He was much more. He loved the outdoors. He was into his rugby and fishing and he went whitebaiting, floundering and got paua all that sort of stuff. This is a tragedy."
Cole's immediate family declined to speak to the Herald on Sunday.
"They are just not up to it," said his aunt, Glenda Higginson. "It's a really hard time for them, they've just been with the undertaker."
The Herald on Sunday understands Cole had been working hard at getting his life back together after a two-week stint in a Christchurch remand prison in 2002 before pleading guilty to burgling a winery, possessing a firearm and possessing cannabis. He was convicted and sentenced to nine months' prison suspended for 18 months, 12 months supervision and six months' periodic detention on the burglary charge.
In 2003, he was back before the courts where he pleaded guilty to burgling a hotel and was sentenced to a year in prison but granted leave to apply for home detention.
Since then, Cole had been knuckling down, taking guidance from their family friend, former All Black coach Alex Wyllie.
Police are still investigating how the men died, but believe they scrambled on to the moving train as it slowed for a gradient or corner in Waipara, about 40 minutes' north of Christchurch.
Their bodies were found about 3am on Thursday by a forklift driver who noticed blood on the wagon.
Detective Senior Sergeant John Rae said the men may have been hitching a ride to Christchurch.
Jim Upritchard did not think his son was in the habit of jumping on to moving trains.
He said he would cherish his memory of his last night with his son, who cooked a roast then did the dishes. "I saw him the next morning and said, 'Have a good day, I'm off to work'. And that was it, that was the last time."
