He may be the All Blacks' most-capped player of all time now but Sam Whitelock says "not a lot has changed" for him or the team as they continue their pursuit to win the Rugby World Cup.
Whitelock surpassed fellow great Richie McCaw to stand alone for most All Blacks Test caps on Saturday when he came off the bench for his 149th appearance in the black jersey during the team's 96-17 win over Italy at the World Cup.
The 34-year-old was welcomed on to the pitch to applause from the 55,000-strong Lyon crowd — which included McCaw and other former All Blacks — as well as his teammates congratulating him in the moment.
But since then, it's been back to business.
"Life hasn't really changed," Whitelock told Breakfast.
"Our trainer said, 'I need you down at the gym tomorrow at 10am and I need you on the bike and stuff'. I was thinking he would go easy on me but it was a hard session.
"Nothing's changed but I've had some amazing messages, amazing videos from people who I spend a lot of time with and know really well, but also some people I don't know very well and it's been very humbling.
"I've taken a bit of time over the last day or so to slow down, stop and actually thought about how amazing this is."
Whitelock conceded it had been a "weird week" leading up to the match but when the moment arrived, it was encapsulated by images of longtime teammate Aaron Smith being one of the first to congratulate him with a handshake of sorts when he came on the field.
Although it was a heartfelt moment, Whitelock revealed the sentiment didn't exactly hit right away.
"Weird is probably the easiest way to sum it up because normally whenever I come on, there's a lineout or a scrum or we've just scored so there's always something to do.
"But I got out there, and I've played a lot of rugby and known Aaron Smith since I was 13, and he's trying to shake my hand and I was like, 'get out of my way, I just want to get on with my job!'
"Aaron said some amazing things after the game, presented me with another jersey so it was really, really nice to have him there because he's been there since the start of my high school days and a lot of my professional era too."
Now that the record has been beaten, Whitelock said he's back to focusing on what he really went to France for — a third World Cup.
Whether that comes to fruition or not is yet to be seen, but after this campaign he added he knows a big part of his life will be coming to an end.
"When I do walk away, whenever that is, from rugby completely, it's going to be really hard to replace it because it's been such a big part of my life for such a long time.
"But I know my wife and my kids are looking forward to me being around a bit more rather than being out and about, off and away.
"So I'm looking forward to that next challenge too."
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