Sunday 25 June 2017 13:31, UK
One lucky British and Irish Lions fan received the surprise of a lifetime when he was invited to stay at the home of All Blacks stars Rieko and Akira Ioane - but he had no idea who they were.
IT consultant Alex Edwards is on the trip of a lifetime, travelling around New Zealand in a camper van as he follows the Lions, and a chance meeting at the Ponsonby Rugby Club on the eve of the Lions' loss to the Blues on June 7, gave him quite the story to tell.
Rieko Ioane is certainly well known to Lions fans after scoring two tries for the All Blacks against the Lions on Saturday - in his first ever Test start. It was his third game against the tourists in just over two weeks as he also lined out for the Blues and New Zealand Maori.
But he was a relative unknown to many Lions fans at the start of the tour.
When Edwards struck up a conversation with Ioane's mum Sandra, who works at Ponsonby Rugby Club, and she found out he was planning to sleep in his van in the car park she insisted he come home and stay at her house.
Little did he know Sandra is a former member of the New Zealand women's team, her husband Eddie played Test rugby for Samoa and her sons, winger Rieko (20) and Blues flanker Akira (22) - who still share a bedroom - are two of the brightest young stars in New Zealand rugby.
"I was at the club and he turned up and we were having a chat and I said can I help you?" Sandra told the New Zealand radio show Newstalk ZB.
"He said: 'I've come to park up and sleep in my van' so I thought that's no good and decided to take him home with me. The boys were out at the time but they came home 10 minutes later and I said: 'These are my sons.' [Akiro and Rieko] He didn't click. Then we were having a cup of tea and he said: 'Those boys, I've seen them before somewhere?' I said: 'No, no way.'
"He ended up staying on a mattress on the floor. He clicked when the boys said they had to get themselves ready for the Blues game. The boys sat there and chatted with him but he wasn't very happy after he came home after the Blues game [the Blues won 22-16 in the match on, with Rieko scoring a try]."
Edwards admits it took him a while to realise just where he was.
"After meeting Ed and Sandra, they introduced the lads and I thought 'bloody hell, these lads are big units - I best not do anything too bad in the house'," Edwards said.
"After five or 10 minutes talking to Ed and having a cup of tea, I was like 'oh your lads must play a decent standard being that big'.
"And he goes 'you'll see them run out tomorrow night'. I was like 'what do you mean?' I thought they'd be running out for Ponsonby, Sandra's team. Then Ed said 'No, no, no. They're starting for the Blues, mate!'"
The story has gained great traction in New Zealand, with the locals highly amused by Edwards' ignorance.
Edwards admitted: "It was a bit odd last night getting recognised in bars last night. Genuinely odd - an IT consultant from the UK, one man in a van."
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