For All Black Kieran Read, widely regarded as one of the world's best loose forwards, enjoying his final school years was more important than playing winning rugby.
A pupil at Rosehill College in Papakura, which has traditionally had a modest 1st XV in the Counties school competition, Read's obvious sporting talent won him a scholarship to St Kent's in the fourth form.
He lasted only one year - he decided his mates and the Rosehill environment were more important than developing his rugby and cricket skills.
Read, now 27, says he has never regretted returning to Rosehill, adding that the increasing professionalism of the school game, with many matches now televised, was a double-edged sword.
"I look at it and think it's great in some ways but in others I think it's possibly a little bit sad," he says. "You look at the games they televise and it's always the big rugby schools. And that's where everyone looks now, at those schools. No one goes along to watch Rosehill College's 1st XV playing James Cook High, for example.
