Tomorrow morning's Rugby World Cup opener between the All Blacks and France has plenty at stake but for two proud Blues players, it's also a chance to do themselves and their families proud.
Dalton Papali'i and Mark Telea were both named to start tomorrow's clash at Stade de France in Paris where 80,000 attending fans and millions more globally will watch the highly-anticipated clash between the tournament's hosts and the All Blacks.
The thought of such an occasion isn't lost on Papali'i ahead of his World Cup debut.
"To be honest, you always dream of this moment but sometimes it never comes true but in my case, it has," Papali'i told media this morning.
"When I first got told, I was pretty over the moon - some feelings you can't really put into words but I was more proud to represent this time and also my family, getting to put my last name on the world stage and do it with this team who I call my family as well.
"I'm shaking even talking about it now. It just means so much to me to be going out there and do it for myself, my family and the boys I go to work with, it's truly special and I'm going to soak it up."
Papali'i's moment has been some time in the making with the Blues captain selected ahead of blindside specialist Luke Jacobson with Shannon Frizell, who has been in impressive form in the No.6 jersey for the All Blacks this year, out injured with a hamstring niggle.
The 26-Test loose forward is one of 10 All Blacks named in the matchday 23 making their World Cup debuts with plenty of experienced campaigners - such as Sam Whitelock, Sam Cane, Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett, who are all playing their third World Cups - around them.
But Papali'i added even the younger members of this year's squad still have good experience to fall back on when preparing for tomorrow's Test, even if that knowledge doesn't come from a World Cup setting.
"Talking for myself, I know I have a process that I always fall back on for big games like this," he said.
"There's always going to be a lot of emotions going out there but I know once it's time, when the warm-ups start to happen and all that, I know I've got a job in front of me and I put those emotions aside and think about being in the moment and dealing with what's in front of me.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge. This is why we play rugby, it's for occasions like this."
Blues teammate Telea has a similar mindset ahead of his own debut in the famous No.11 black jersey - a position tied to many breakout performances from All Blacks wings of the past.
"New Zealand does have a rich history of great outside backs and I'm just trying to pave my own way and try and add to my own legacy," he said.
"I know we have great players, great leaders, great coaching staff and the amount of effort that we put in as an outside unit, we just want to go out there and perform the best we can and display the type of rugby we play back in New Zealand."
Telea added he was sharing similar feelings to Papali'i about tomorrow's match.
"It kind of takes me back to when I got my first debut in Scotland and Fozzy was just telling me, 'I want to give you a crack this week and just take the opportunity' and that's kind of like this moment now, you prep the same way."
Preparation aside, Foster, who joked some of Papali'i's excitement was tied to the local cuisine on offer since their arrival in France, said emotion will be good for the fixture.
"We want to walk out on that park with shiny eyes, nice and light, and we just want to play and we're ready to play," Foster said.
"And then once the ref blows his whistle, let's see what happens after that."
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