Two Kiwi students have made history in the United States, winning the National Collegiate Premier Sevens Championship with their Mount St Mary's University in Maryland.
It's an accolade still sinking in for Hayden McKay and Kiahi Horan, who never really intended on being in the team — nor did they really know each other; only mutually through family friends.
McKay is in his first year out of Takapuna Grammar on a rugby scholarship so the transition to sevens was relatively easy. However Horan, who hails from Papamoa, is in the US to play waterpolo — a sport he's represented New Zealand in.
"I ended up meeting one of the rugby blokes and told him I was from New Zealand and he said come to practice and come play rugby," Horan said.
"So I went to practice, and the ball rolled out of bounds, and I was in jandals so I kicked them off and kicked a drop goal from the sideline barefoot and, well, the rest is history!"
Now they've created real history, beating college rugby powerhouse Indianapolis 19-5 in what's believed to be the largest college rugby sports competition to ever be held; 122 teams, 36 of which were in the premier division.
"We've got teachers coming up in classes saying well done — they're so stoked for us, cause we're a small university of 2000 so this something that's a lot bigger than us you know," McKay said.
Making the victory even sweeter was the fact they were all but written off by the opposition, largely because previous to this year's tournament they'd never made it past round one.
"We only conceded 22 points all tournament and we won on the back of defence and the attitude that we brought," Horan explained.
"No one expected us to do well so we used that for each game and just went out there to have fun, play what was in front of us and for each other — and ultimately that helped us get over the line."
There's also the fact that Mount St Mary's isn't considered a "rugby college".
The Maryland university only entered a sevens team two weeks before nationals as they'd spent Spring focusing on 15s.
With this result though, that focus is set to shift.
"With sevens being part of the Olympics there's a lot more funding going into it so it's getting bigger and bigger," Horan added.
While it's back to water polo for Horan — who'd like to one day attend the Olympics with New Zealand, McKay is keen to work towards a professional rugby career in the United States. He's just recently been picked for the USA under 20s side, so won't return home for the summer like most Kiwis studying in the States do.
They're also keen to add one more piece of bling to their Nationals collection (which includes a large trophy and medal).
"The coach reckons he'll get us some championship rings," Horan said.
"And hopefully he can get us a scholarship increase," McKay joked.
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