Francis Saili ran out for his first All Black test with a piece of advice written in black marker on one wrist.
The message read: "Stay in the now", and it was advice he initially ignored. His awful start - a dropped pass which led to Juan Manuel Leguizamon's tryin the opening minutes - came because he got ahead of himself.
Saili said afterwards that he was thinking about his options before Dan Carter's pass was safely caught, but, mistake made, it was advice which helped him recover from it. He finished the test on the right side of the ledger.
Second-five Saili revealed Kieran Read and Aaron Smith helped to boost his confidence as he and his teammates came together after Leguizamon's try.
"[They] said 'next task mate, next job ... you'll bounce back'. For me it was [concentrating] on the next task. Luckily it was early in the game because if it was in the 78th minute it would have been a bummer, a battle [to put things right]. I just had to move on from that little error and just not dwell on it."
Asked about Saili's performance, coach Steve Hansen said: "If you wanted to start a test match you probably wouldn't want to start it like that. I think it showed a lot of character from him to bounce back. A lot of guys would have gone right into the red and shirked away from it but he certainly didn't.
"I thought he carried well and I don't think he dropped another one after that. He went into contact nicely for us at times."
Blues player Saili is unlikely to be required for next Saturday's clash against the Springboks at Eden Park, with Ma'a Nonu back in the mix after his expected recovery from an ankle problem.
The 22-year-old is, not surprisingly, keen for another chance, though. "I'll be ready. If there's another chance for me I've just got to be ready and grab the next opportunity."
