Huge crowds gathered to farewell the great Pinetree.
It was a regular get-together for Waitete Rugby Club members back in the day, but today's "Sunday School" session will be the final for Sir Colin Meads, whose Te Kuiti rugby mates will toast their friend and hero for the last time.
Yesterday, Sir Colin's former provincial team - King Country - honoured him before, during and after their Heartland Championship clash against West Coast in Taupo; including a tribute to him in the match programme, a sign on the hill of the match venue including his All Black number, and players from both teams wearing black arm bands.
Today it is the turn of some of the rugby great's closest mates to pay their respects.
Pinetree will be taken to his beloved clubrooms on the edge of the Te Kuiti township where those who knew and loved him best will honour their team mate and mentor with a few beers ahead of Sir Colin's funeral tomorrow.
Former Maori All Black Brian Cressy, who joined Waitete when he was 14, said the group including Sir Colin regularly met up at Waitete for "Sunday School" as it was nicknamed, and in later years following special occasions.
"It was just players and supporters. They've just opened it up especially on that day just to have a few drinks and Piney's going to be there. It's a sort of a last get-together, a gathering and thinking about old times."
Cressy was 17 when he began playing club rugby with Meads, and by the age of 23 in 1964 he was preparing for his first trial for the Maori All Blacks, a mid-week game at Waitete, when Sir Colin arrived.
"He turned up and came into the dressing room and wished me well, and those sort of things you never forget.
"It was amazing because it was a mid-week game and they were pretty busy on the farm but he took time out to do that. That's the man isn't it - he was so giving of his time."
Cressy said the gesture from the incumbent All Black lifted his spirits and he made the team two years running.
A halfback, Cressy also played alongside Meads for Whanganui-King Country when the team beat the Lions 12-6 in Whanganui in 1966.
He said Sir Colin's death of pancreatic cancer on Sunday, although expected, was still a shock.
"And it'll be worse when you go down there and you don't see him at the leaner, at the football club. It'll be a big hole and it'll be a big hole for Te Kuiti. Because he was a Te Kuiti boy, very much so, he was proud of his roots."
He said Monday's tremendous send-off, the likes of which had never been seen before in the small King Country town, would have made Sir Colin proud.
Sir Colin Meads at the Waitete Rugby Club. Mates will give him a final send off at the clubrooms in Te Kuiti today. Photo / Christine Cornege.
Yesterday his body was taken onto Te Tokanganui a Noho Marae in Te Kuiti, an honour reserved for only a select few non-Maori.
School students were involved in an emotional welcoming ceremony and three korowai were placed on Sir Colin's casket.
Youngest daughter Shelley Mitchell said the family had been comforted by "amazing local support" and a country united in grief.
She said her father's death still felt a bit surreal.
"He'll leave a huge hole in our family and it does feel surreal. But the tributes and the wonderful out-pouring of stories that people are willing to share and the flowers left at the statue, it's helping because it warms the heart."
Knowing that people thought so highly of the 81-year-old had eased the family's grief but the loss of anonymity in that process had been surprising.
"We know he's touched a lot of people's lives and he's a public person. So we'd like to welcome people that want to come and farewell Dad."
Her mother, Lady Verna, had been comforted by the large close-knit family, which included the couple's five children, 14 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
"Everyone's up there with Mum. She just said 'Isn't it fantastic times like these having such a large family is just so wonderful'.
"Everyone just goes and sits in bed beside mum and has big long talks. She's doing really well."
Former King Country and Ireland rugby coach Noel McQuilkin said he visited his mate in hospital shortly before he died.
"I went up on Sunday and told him I'd see him Monday, but he died. We'd had a joke and a laugh. He was excellent. He wondered where I'd been for three days."
McQuilkin, whose daughter Kim died of pancreatic cancer in April, said Sir Colin's legacy would live on for centuries.
