So could the Golden O on his chest.
Braydon Peterson turned a shade of maroon when asked about the game that divides the South.
The transplanted Southlander has new allegiances. He has thrown his kitbag in with Otago and he will wrestle with what to tell his mates the week Otago travel south to play Southland in Invercargill on Stag Day.
The 32-year-old has been appointed to the role of Otago Rugby Football Union high performance development manager and is charged with hoovering up all the talented players in the region and placing them on the conveyor belt.
"I’m looking after the development of players coming through, so that’s sort of the under-20 space," he said.
"That’s a two-year programme out of school.
"I’m working with that player group to help them progress through rugby and outside rugby into whatever’s next, whether that’s NPC or Highlanders or New Zealand under-20s or All Blacks. And also, I guess, really driving the alignment from club and school rugby into that pathway.
"So, really, it’s about looking at how we can get our best players for the clubs and schools into Otago rep teams."
Peterson has a solid background in the industry.
He worked as an intern at the Otago union while completing a double degree in physical education and commerce at the University of Otago.
Following graduation, he secured a graduate position with Sport Taranaki and was later employed by Taranaki Rugby in a dual role of strength and conditioning coach and women’s development officer.
That role expanded, and by the time he left he was leading women’s rugby.
He headed overseas on his OE with his partner, and now wife, Chloe.
They arrived just before everything got shut down during Covid.
He did some work for a college then moved to London, where he worked for the Ealing Trailfinders.
The couple washed up in Melbourne in 2024.
Peterson worked for Rugby Victoria, and there was more upheaval ahead — he started there just as the now-defunct Melbourne Rebels were being wound up.
"That role changed massively with everything going on with the Rebels.
"It was essentially a clean slate to redevelop the whole pathway system.
"I was looking after all of the state-level rugby, all of the representative programmes, as well as the academy for the top players for both men and women.
"With the loss of the Rebels, it was really about driving that alignment to link the talent we had in Victoria to a pathway. We worked really closely with Rugby Australia in that space."
The couple were pulled home. They have a seven-month-old daughter, Maisie, and they wanted to be closer to family.
Otago play Southland in Invercargill in the opening round of the NPC.
It is Stag Day, when Southland rugby fans emerge from every corner, perhaps even the ORFU headquarters.
"That’s one of the big things I’m looking forward to, to be honest.
"But obviously being up north and around the world, it definitely feels like a homecoming coming back to Otago," Peterson said.
"There have been a lot of good times here during uni and I have a lot of friends still here as well."
