Steven Brown's life with the All Blacks

And now Cannock's Steven Brown believes he is coaching youngsters who will one day star for the imperious All Blacks after starting a new life in New Zealand.

Rugby fanatic Brown – together with his wife of 33-years Julie – are well-known locally for the role they played in establishing the junior game in Cannock.

Back in 1983 Brown launched an under-14s side at Cannock RFU in a bid to show local youngsters they weren't just restricted to playing football.

In the years that followed, under-12s, under-10s and an under-19 colts team were quickly established with Brown then moving on to coach the Cannock first-team.

A similar stint at Worcester Warriors followed with the coach helping train youngsters aged from eight to 13.

Then in 2012, having also built up a successful IT business in his professional life, Brown decided to move to the other side of the world to support Julie's dream of living in a different culture.

But his love for junior rugby was never going to diminish with the coach now taking the reigns of junior teams at Tamaki College in Auckland.

In a country where rugby is the national support, Brown has continued to thrive.

He was recently visited by, and held a training session with, six All Blacks after his Tamaki College under-14s side won a competition to find the best newly-founded young team in New Zealand.

And the coach admits meeting Malakai Fekitoa, Owen Franks, Brodie Retallick, Julian Savea, Codie Taylor and Ofa Tu'ungafasi was an experience he and his pupils will never forget.

He said: "Meeting the All Blacks was, of course, a great moment for me but I was just so proud of the boys because they were a credit to their families and to Tamaki College.

"The All Blacks gave us some great tips and provided a day that these youngsters and myself will never forget.

"Having coached rugby around the world this will remain as one of my greatest moments.

"Tamaki College is not known for being a rugby school, but it currently has an excellent first XV, under-15s and now an under-14s team.

"The All Blacks came to us as we had won a competition for starting off a new team in a school.

"I know that I am coaching future All Blacks. I now realise just how lucky soccer coaches are in the UK.

"When your national sport is whatever, when you start coaching rugby in New Zealand everyone follows it and everyone plays it.

"No basic skills are necessary you just get on with developing the team."

Brown's love for rugby began as a youngster when he watched his brother Bill star for the likes of Lichfield, Staffordshire and London Irish.

A tough tackling prop, he also played for Lichfield as well as Staffordshire, Stafford and Walsall.

But it was after hanging up his boots that he and his wife began looking to encourage more youngsters to take up the sport.

He said: "To start the Cannock RUFC junior teams I had to prove to the local youngsters from the wider Cannock area that there was another sport other than football.

"Cannock RUFC Juniors with an under-14 team then won the Staffordshire Championship in their first season.

"The following season we started the under-12s and the following season the under-10s.

"The mini junior section was established and to continue our feeder policy we organised a Chase Schools Cup.

"We then went on to take over the under-19s colts for Cannock."Cannock junior teams then went on to beat the best Midlands teams such as Moseley, Walsall, Bromsgrove, Stafford and Lichfield."

After achieving so much success in junior rugby, Brown revealed the pair opted to move the other side of the world to fulfil Julie's dream of living in New Zealand.

He continued: "We were fortunate that I had done everything I had wanted to do in business.

"Although I came from humble beginnings, I had been bought up to believe that you can be anything that you want to be.

"Julie had always wanted to live in New Zealand and she had supported me throughout life and it was my turn to support her.

"The only thing that stops you achieving greatness is yourself. You have to be the best that you can be.

"This is what I do with rugby teams. In business, one of my many companies was a sport agency for rugby.

"We took on Martin Corry of Leicester and he became the Leicester captain and England captain after Martin Johnson.

"I'm not saying that we did this for him but the last contract that we made for him enabled him to focus on his rugby and he achieved his own success."

Now with expert knowledge of rugby on both sides of the hemisphere, Brown believes that mix is helping the pupils he is currently teaching.

He said: "My forte is being a volunteer coach, even though I have been a professional coach in the past. I enjoy coaching teams without fancy stadiums and the best facilities.

"I remember my roots at Cannock. We trained kids who had never played before. We played for 30 minutes each way but it took us 10 minutes to clean the pitch of dog dirt.

"But I believe all these experiences have made me a better coach and I believe that all coaches benefit from plying their trade abroad. I have learned so much from being in New Zealand.

"I know how to beat the New Zealand teams and that is to teach the forwards English power-play. And then, when we defend or attack after the power-play, we need to be play Kiwi 15-man rugby.

"The boys here are so dedicated and fit and I have still not worn any of them down in training.

"You tell them to jump and they say how high. If they believe in you they will run through fire."