The last time Eric Rush left the scene of a Rugby World Cup Sevens early to return home to New Zealand in 2001, his parting words inspired his compatriots to lift the Melrose Cup.
Coach Gordon Tietjens will be hoping that his former captain can inspire the same this year after leaving Dubai today, this time for business reasons rather than to have a broken leg operated on.
One of Sevens rugby's most enduring and popular characters, Rush was an everpresent for Tietjens and has spent time with the team this week in the build-up to the showpiece event.
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"I broke my leg against England in the pool game in 2001 and the next morning, before I jumped on the plane to go home, they wheeled me out in the wheelchair and did a haka and from that moment I knew we were going to win the tournament because the boys were just super fired up," Rush said of his 2001 vintage.
"I had to break my leg to get them motivated to do it I guess, but it was the price I was willing to pay!
"Then I had the operation as soon as I got home and the next day the boys came. I was still drugged up and out of it but I've got the photo on the wall at home with all the boys around the bed, and the Cup, so it was a special time."
Rush admits that several key injuries to the likes of Edwin Cocker, Solomon King, Tim Mikkelson, Nafi Tuitavake and Sosene Anesi have hampered their preparations, but he remains confident that his countrymen can win the Cup for the second time.
"For these boys here this year it's about creating their little bit of history. We've won Commonwealth golds, a World Cup and all those Series titles but that means nothing to them here. They've got to do it for themselves.
"If there was one message I wanted to get across it was to say that, 'You guys are good enough, it's just about how badly you want to create your place in history. It's about these three days.'"
Looking for the X-Factor
Eight years ago it was Jonah Lomu's three tries in the final that helped power New Zealand to their 31-12 final victory against Glen Ella's side. Rush was not on the pitch with Lomu that day, but still remembers the first time he set eyes on the colossal teenager years before, and invited him to join his own club team in Auckland.
"He was always going to be a star, I just saw him early and took him up to the Singapore tournament with my team and the Cook Islands before that," he said of Lomu, who arrives in Dubai on Monday ahead of the tournament's kick off the next day.
"He was a lovely kid and he would have made the New Zealand team then if he'd gone to the trials, but 15 was just too young so I think he was 17 or 18 when we finally took him. He was a freak back then, but Sevens was a great way to discover guys like that."
Tietjens must also take credit for nurturing Lomu and managing him early on in his career. The coach is the only man approaching Rush's longevity in New Zealand colours. For 17 years Rush wore the black jersey, mostly on the Sevens pitch, and Tietjens has now been coach of the side for 13 years, winning eight World Series titles, that one World Cup and all three Commonwealth Games golds on offer.
Back on the line!
Having played under him and also worked alongside him in a coaching capacity in more recent times, Rush is convinced that 'Tietj' still has what it takes.
"I guess if you keep winning you keep getting selected and he's done that pretty consistently. But I think above that it's the number of guys he's developed for New Zealand Rugby. Nearly half of the All Black team have come through him and if you take the tight forwards out it is half that have come through the Sevens programme.
"And he's still enjoying it. I went to see them at training here yesterday and it brought back some bitter sweet memories, him trying to break them, promising them it's the last run and then, when they think they're done and relaxed, 'Back on the line!'
"I was there when he had his first training run and I can see that he's still enjoying it as much as ever now, which is the secret. If he starts to lose that enjoyment then I think his results will start to go the other way."
Despite losing several key players to injury in the past few weeks, Tietjens is clearly still enjoying himself and relishing the challenge even more.
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