Mike Delany spent Saturday night in Hamilton at a friend's birthday party.
The All Black squad to tour the northern hemisphere was being named at 10am yesterday, but Delany was having a lie-in.
Then his phone rang.
It was his brother calling to tell him he was an All Black.
Yeah right.
But it was no prank.
Delany, Bay of Plenty's outstanding first five-eighth, was one of four newcomers in the 33-strong squad for six matches, starting against Australia on October 31 in Tokyo, and ending on December 5 against the Barbarians at Twickenham.
"I was speechless, couldn't believe it. It took a while to sink in. Still hasn't," Delany said yesterday.
- David Leggatt
His is a classic case of a player being chosen on form.
The 27-year-old has been in the best form of his career, he is the leading points-scorer in the Air New Zealand Cup and has been the driving force behind a strong campaign.
"I'm pretty happy with how I've been going," he said.
"I had to step up for Bay of Plenty and try to lead the team with the other senior guys. I was concentrating on making sure they didn't go down to the other division."
Delany, who played for the Highlanders in 2008 before joining the Chiefs, did not make any national age-group teams.
He said his aspirations for the year were somewhere below pulling on the black jersey.
"I just tried to play well, make the Super 14 and go from there, but I never expected to make the All Black side."
His goal was to learn as much as he could and "put my best foot forward".
