Even battered and with a couple of cuts above his eye – courtesy of Sean Maitland’s boot – to show for his troubles, and after being comprehensively beaten, it was hard to miss the glint in Snowden’s eyes after taking on the might of the British and Irish Lions.

The tourists were a class above Snowden and his Combined Country team-mates, running out 64-nil victors, but the scoreline really was inconsequential – to the Country boys anyway.

It was stuff dreams are made of and, indeed, Snowden had since he watched NSW Country face the Lions 12 years ago.

He saw 74 minutes and was involved in a couple of try-saving tackles.

The first he helped push Irish backrower Sean O’Brien into touch as he was about to score.

Then in the second half he held up Lions counterpart Conor Murray.

They were a couple of the highlights.

“The one on Sean O’Brien I thought I was no show,” Snowden said.

Tackling Jamie Roberts and side-stepping Stuart Hogg were also up there.

He also got his wish to play against Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips, for a few minutes anyway.

Combined Country coach Cam Blades said afterwards, at times in the first half it was a bit like rabbits in the headlights for his side. 

Snowden concurred.

“I’ve only had five Super Rugby caps but it’s nothing you can compare to that speed,” he said,

“I’ve never played in a game where I’ve worked so hard in defence at the contact area for so little reward.”

At times they just had wave after wave of attack coming at them.

“Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip and Brian O’Driscoll are three of the strongest players I’ve ever played against,” he said.

“I felt like I was 16 playing (Moree’s) Anthony Kaberry again.”

Combined Country’s resistance held for about seven and a half minutes but three tries in about six minutes turned the game well and truly the Lions’ way.

The home side did have its moments and was on the Lions’ line for about three minutes at one point in the first half.

But it was  unable to crack the Lions’ defence and the visitors ended up turning the ball over and scoring.

They led 38-nil at half-time.

“In that situation 40-odd down it would have been very easy to shut up shop,” Snowden said.

But true to that Country spirit, they didn’t, and were a lot more competitive in the second half.

“Everyone knows you’ll never play against them again,” Snowden said.

It was everything he expected and better.

“It’s like going to Vegas for the first time,” he said.

“Everybody tells you how good it is going to be. It was way better than they tell you.”

It’s a memory he’ll always savour.

“It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done,” he said.

They would have been sentiments shared by many of the players that wore the blue and yellow on Tuesday night, which also included Gunnedah’s Angus Roberts.