Bournemouth’s own Kiwi Toby Kenneally says the passion for rugby in his homeland separates New Zealand from every other oval-shaped ball-playing nation in the world.
With England welcoming the All Blacks to Twickenham this Saturday, the Chapel Gate men take a break from their fixture schedule.
But after seeing his homeland lift back-to-back Rugby World Cups in 2011 and 2015, Kenneally says there is no other country with their enthusiasm.
He said: “In my opinion, what makes New Zealand the best rugby team in the world is the million dollar question.
“It starts when you are a kid really - the passion for it is there - and everyone knows that the All Blacks is something special, and everyone who jumps in that shirt seems to want to leave it in a better position then when they found it.
“It has got to be the passion for the sport really.
“It starts when you are a kid and it just keeps growing and growing and growing.”
The tall forward had an unconventional route into the sport himself.
His father was not so keen on the oval ball - and combined with a late growth spurt for Kenneally, he never took to it at first.
But it was a chance conversation with a good friend of his which saw his rugby playing career take off - and he has not looked back since.

He added: “My old man played rugby and I wasn’t really very interested in sport and just drifted around a bit to be honest, then I was just quite small at school really and ended up just leaving school and then got a bit bigger and my mate was like ‘you should play rugby’ and I was just like ‘yeah alright, I’ll give it a bit of a nudge’ and it turns out I was okay at it. “My mate Alex just said ‘you’re quite tall, you could be a lock’ so I just showed up and he was like ‘you’re really good’ so I sort of just went from there. “I have never looked back since really. “In fact I was best man at his wedding a few years ago so he is a good mate of mine. That is the thing about rugby - once you get into it, and you get into a team and are accepted, you don’t want to leave it and it makes you who you are. “Rugby has definitely made me who I am today.”