It's fair to say the day hard-running Southland No 8 Paul Miller was dropped from the All Blacks was the day the foundations for his career beyond rugby were laid.
Miller got just two games in the black jersey before being axed. But he believes the 2001 experience is one that helped prepare him for the job he finds himself in today – a Probation Officer with Corrections in Dunedin working to rehabilitate young offenders.
"In rugby I had a lot of adversity," he says. "There were injuries and setbacks (like not being picked again for the All Blacks) but I learnt to get back up. These things give you strength and resilience and it's what I try to help young people with today."
Speaking as two livecasts are planned to give people interested in applying for jobs an opportunity to question both corrections and probation officers about their work, Miller says taking on the job is "one of the best decision I've ever made".
Like many other young New Zealand boys, his dream growing up was of playing for the All Blacks. It was not difficult to see why.
Miller was part of a rugby-mad family; his father Harold played for Southland between 1963 and 1972 (including the game against the 1966 British and Irish Lions won by Southland 14 -8), a brother Wayne also turned out for the province between 1991 and 1994, while another brother Dusty represented NZ Combined Services.
Miller himself had six years in Southland colours and a couple of seasons with Otago as well as turning out for the Highlanders and Chiefs super rugby teams. And when he was picked for the 2001 All Black tour to Britain after starring for Otago in that year's national provincial campaign, he seemed on the brink of a long and distinguished career in the black jersey.
But he never again wore the All Black jersey; a loss of fitness and injuries meant he was overlooked in 2002 and although he returned to his best form in 2004 and 2005 for both Southland and the Highlanders, he found it impossible to break back in to the All Blacks.
Yet this setback has stood him in good stead in his work as a probation officer: "I try to help them (offenders) develop resilience and integrity, things I learnt from my playing days. I tell them I got knocked down, I had injuries, I had failures, but the important thing is to get back up.
"My All Black career was a blur to be honest," he says. "I remember scoring a try in my first game and being presented with my jersey by Anton Oliver (the All Black hooker and fellow Otago player). I was young and I guess I came back from that tour a bit complacent and expecting I would be picked again."
It was a hard lesson for Miller who eventually packed his bags in 2006 playing five years in Japan for the Kurita Water Industries team in Atsugi, a city about an hour's drive south of Tokyo.
His playing career over Miller was faced with the question of what to do next. He initially got a job at his old high school, King's High School in Dunedin, as a sports co-ordinator before noticing vacancies for probation officers during an internet search.
"Working with young offenders appealed to me," he says. "As a youngster I was subjected to a drinking culture and although I definitely knew what was right and wrong, I could easily have gone down the wrong path so I felt with all my experiences I had something to offer."
Miller, who has been in the job for just over a year, helps to rehabilitate young people aged between 17 and 24, many of whom have completed prison sentences or who are undertaking community work.
"Most have had trouble because of alcohol and substance abuse and my role is to help them plug the gaps and get back on the right track," he says. "It's definitely rewarding and for me it's about the small things like helping prepare for a job interview.
At heart, Miller is still very much a rugby man. The past two years he has played for the Classic All Blacks, has turned out for a second grade side at his old club Pirates in Dunedin ("at lock or prop, I'm too slow for No 8 now") and coaches his son's under-11 team.
An avid Highlanders supporter, the day he gave this interview he was looking forward to attending a Highlanders reunion and watching the 2018 team in action. For the record, the Highlanders beat the Hurricanes 30-14. Miller would have been pleased.
# The livecasts are part of a Corrections recruitment drive and will be streamed online on June 25 (corrections) and July 9 (probation). For more information go to https://live.corrections.govt.nz/