England centre Joe Marchant is back into life with the Harlequins but thankful he got his chance to experience southern hemisphere rugby during a six-month stint with the Blues.
Marchant told skysports.com that as a human being he had ticked a lot of boxes during his time in Auckland.
"I lived on the other side of the world, I moved over with my partner and it was something new, being able to see loads of stuff and make the most of time off.
"But in terms of rugby, I feel like I made the most of the situation. I learnt loads, I tried to ask as many questions, I tried to do extra things if I could.
"When the lockdown did happen, I was fortunate as the Blues cleared out their gym and gave everyone equipment so I could use the time to put on a bit of weight, get to the weight I wanted to be at and when I came back after lockdown, try and maintain that. Overall, it was a really good experience," he said.
Marchant also got to see the development in emerging players like Hoskins Sotutu, Caleb Clarke and All Black Rieko Ioane.
"Hoskins has been amazing this year. You could just tell he has this talent, it's crazy.
"In one of the games, I think it was against the Highlanders, he picked up from the base and rather than give it to the nine [halfback] to do a clearing grubber down the touchline, he just did it himself.
"Or hitting a grubber through when we played against the Waratahs and [wing] Mark Telea scoring, just little things like that, he's really come onto the scene.
"He does his basics well with his carrying and getting over the gain-line, but then these skills come out and you can see why he'll be playing top-level rugby for a while.
"Caleb was another guy who came in pretty much after lockdown, and he was fresh because he'd been playing sevens. He's come onto the scene with legs bigger than anything, rapid and strong. He just trained well and played well.
"With Rieko, it was a little bit frustrating for me that he wanted to play 13 [centre], but he's another good player to learn from and chat to about different situations.
"But he's redeveloped himself as this 13 that can do everything a wing can do but just in one. He's been awesome," he said.
With three England caps in their 2019 Rugby World Cup warm-up campaign, Marchant had a taste of top-level rugby before making his switch to Super Rugby. It had been a lifelong ambition to play in southern hemisphere rugby and when he had support from Harlequins and England coach Eddie Jones, his agent quickly put a deal together with the Blues.
"My agent put a feeler out to a lot of southern hemisphere clubs and I spoke to Leon MacDonald pretty much straight away.
"He loved the idea that I would come and try to develop my game, and he thought I would fit in well with his idea of where he wanted the Blues.
"To get in amongst loads of good players and though the team hasn't been too successful over the last couple of years, Leon felt that this year was a starting block and somewhere where we were going to take it to a new level, and we did.
"My first day, I was pretty much chucked in at the deep end," he said.
"I knew no one. In one of the first meetings, all the boys were singing a song in Maori . There were no words up on the screen. I had no idea what was going on.
"I'd never experienced being the only one that was different or had a different accent.
"When we have Aussie boys in at Quins, we might say 'Gday' or do their accent, but I didn't realise how relentless it is.
"Every day at the Blues people would put on my accent, but it wouldn't be my accent, it would be the most cockney accent from any film.
"It was cool. They called me 'Guv' because of that. It was a nice welcome."
He said the main differences he noticed between England and New Zealand was that the back-rows of teams were in with the backs a bit more.
"You can see with guys like Hoskins Sotutu or Dalton Papalii, they are good at doing stuff that a centre would do as well. They'd be able to put kicks through, to see space, to call for the ball in space, those kinds of things.
"It's just different. We've got loads of good back-rows here at the club, who have got a slightly different approach.
"James Chisholm and Alex Dombrandt are good at getting that front-forward ball and grind.
"They're a bit bigger and that's maybe the difference between the Prem and Super Rugby really – in the southern hemisphere they're just a little bit quicker.
"The way it's coached is a little bit different too, due to the game.
"With the Prem [Premiership], you have to be a more defensive team, have a real strong set-piece or otherwise you will come up against Exeter and Sarries and you will struggle," he said.
"But in New Zealand, it's the teams that can throw it around, can get the ball in another three times, keep the ball alive and then wait until everyone's dead and then play from that, that's the tipping point there.
"There's a lot more emphasis on getting the ball in play and training under fatigue. Everything was alive the whole time.
"If there was an offload or half-break, you'd make sure it was finished off. If anyone can get their arm through, you play that. Whereas, over here, play is more direct," Marchant said.