Ben Gunter says being selected in Japan's squad for the Rugby World Cup is an "honour" and a "dream", and that telling his family he had made it was one of the happiest moments of his life.
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After all the kilometres, the sacrifices, the set-backs, the doubt, the hard work - none more so than over the last year - here he was now preparing to play in the sport's showpiece event.
It's a "fairytale" turnaround for the former Gunnedah junior after rupturing his left bicep tendon playing for the Brave Blossoms against France in late 2022, and then only a few games into his comeback, doing the same to his right.
Part of the extended Japan squad four years ago only to just miss the qualification eligibility by four days, the 25-year-old admits he feared he had missed his chance again.
Even right up to the moment the final squad was named the back-rower was preparing to cheer them on from back in Japan.
While he'd worked his way back into the side, he'd played barely 80 minutes of football since March, and had only come off the bench in their final hit-out before the announcement.
"Next thing I know, my name's up there," Gunter recalled, the memory evoking a smile as he spoke with ACM via a video call from their training base in Italy.
"I had that feeling where you can't talk and you just sort of go a bit numb and you're in a bit of shock.
"It was just the biggest relief."
Later back in his room, he continued to struggle to get the words out.
"I called my pop and he said to me 'what's wrong'?," Gunter said.
"I was trying to tell him but I was so excited.
"And he's like 'what's wrong, speak, speak'.
"I said 'I'm trying to tell you that I'm going to the World Cup'."
Caught up in the whirlwind of it all, he hadn't realised that it was about one or two in the morning back in Australia; hence his pop's worry.
Naturally, there was a lot of emotion as he relayed the happy news to his family.
They know better than anybody just how hard the last nine months have been for him.
"It's been the biggest test mentally and physically so far in my career," he said.
Gunter's World Cup call-up comes seven years after he followed opportunities over to Japan, and just under two after he made his test debut for the Brave Blossoms, ironically against Australia.
At the time he described it as "a little boy's dream come true".
"I never thought I would get the chance or even be in the position to play international rugby ever, so to be here now making my debut against none other but my home country that's all the motivation I need to go out and play to make my family proud," he said.
The squad will remain in Italy until September 2, and have a warm-up game against the Azzurri on August 26.
It's then onto Toulouse to finalise their preparations ahead of their opening game against Chile on September 10.
