Last hurrah for Dane Coles before a club match for Paraparaumu

Afterwards he had a beer and enjoyed a competition meal of beef stew and bread.

“I loved it. It was so cool. Afterwards there was a real community feeling with kids everywhere, the changing rooms and then a feed and a few beers… you miss some things,” he said.

“It was also a really good football match. Rugby is rugby. I felt it a bit the next day.”

Coles, who played 90 Test matches for the All Blacks and 141 Super Rugby games for the Hurricanes, said this was definitely his last game of rugby.

Having three young sons aged 9, 7 and 4 who played rugby, he wanted to invest energy and time in them and considered becoming a coach in the future.

“I’m done. But I want to give back in whatever way I can and put energy into the kids,” he said.

Coles played for Paraparaumu as a youngster, following his father Steve to senior training during the week and helping out with the scoreboard and goalposts at the weekend.

He hadn’t worn the blue and yellow jersey since his junior years. So when he returned home from playing for Kubota Spears in Japan two weeks ago, and after receiving an international clearance, the chance to check off a bucket list item came along.

According to Paraparaumu club captain Hayden Beissel, Coles turned up for training on Thursday evening before the match.

“Some of the guys on the team were friends he played with when he was younger, but the young guys on the team grew up watching him play on TV,” he said.

“It’s something they won’t forget.”

According to Danny Bruhn, captain of the athletics club, anyone who ever steps onto the field will never forget the match.

“It’s not every day you play an All Black. The guys who played will remember it and they’ll probably tell their grandchildren about it,” he said.

It was a rarity for the province to have an All Black (current or former) playing club rugby.

The last All Black to play senior club rugby for Paraparaumu was Mark Shaw in the 1970s, and before that Gary Knight and Joe Karam. Christian Cullen and Hurricane Brayden Iose both played junior rugby for Paraparaumu.

Bruhn said Coles gave a positive impression during the post-match huddle of what it means to create more rugby memories, play with childhood friends and see his kids running around.

“What a champion man,” he said.

The entertaining match saw plenty of tries scored, with Paraparaumu scoring seven tries to Athletic’s six. Ultimately it was the boots of Athletic winger Konna O’Brien who made the difference, with six conversions.

Sadly this was the end of the season for Paraparaumu in the Bill Muir reserve grade competition, finishing just outside the top four and the semi-finals are being held this weekend.

The top qualifiers in the reserve class were Rahui and Foxton, Athletic and Levin College Old Boys, who will meet in the quarter-finals this weekend.

SCOREBOARD: Levin Athletic 42 (I Ulutoa, D Everitt, M ​​Toremana, T Ulutoa, H Woodley, P Taisia ​​tries, B O’Brien 6 conceded) Paraparaumu 39 (D Coles 4, J McIntyre, K Warren, J Keating tries, C Turner 2 conceded).