The Arrowtown School pupil and rugby fanatic had a private audience with All Black captain Richie McCaw and team-mates Corey Jane, Ma'a Nonu, Andrew Hore and Francis Saili at The Hills, during the players' flying visit to Queenstown as part of the All Blacks to the Nation.
Brayden, a member of the Arrowtown under-10 rugby team, had initially wanted to go to the Queenstown Events Centre, queuing with hundreds of residents and visitors to have their photo taken with the Webb Ellis Cup - the last opportunity to do so before the coveted trophy left New Zealand on Saturday - and hopefully see some of his All Black heroes.
However, his parents Craig and Nicole had been contacted by the New Zealand Rugby Union, wanting to offer Brayden the chance to meet the rugby players privately, as a reward for his exceptional record in the All Blacks ''Game On'' online competition.
Entrants in the competition received five points for correctly predicting the winning team of all games in the Investec Rugby Championship.
Three additional points were awarded for the correct margin, and 20 points for predicting a draw.
As of Friday, Brayden was in second place in New Zealand, out of 944 competitors.
After trying to persuade his parents to take him to the events centre and being told they were too busy, he tried, unsuccessfully, to convince his visiting grandfather to take him.
Mrs Gardyne said Brayden was devastated he wouldn't get a chance to see the trophy, or the All Blacks.
''We were feeling absolutely terrible about it,'' she said.
He was eventually taken to The Hills where he believed he was going to be interviewed by a NZRU representative about his performance in the competition.
When he arrived at Sir Michael Hill's private golf course, however, he was shocked to see Hore and McCaw first, followed by Nonu, Saili and Jane and even more so when he realised he was there to meet them.
After proudly showing McCaw his impressive statistics book - where he records the name of every starting player and reserve in every rugby game, complete with his own codes to identify tries, conversions and penalties - he was presented with an All Blacks jersey and a ball signed by the entire team.
For the All Blacks, it was the second stop on their quick tour of Queenstown, which was hampered initially when a scheduled flight bringing McCaw, Jane and Nonu to the resort was delayed by about an hour.
Children from Remarkables Primary School waited patiently in the events centre stadium.
The players' arrival was signalled by a deafening roar from the children and their excited parents.
After meeting invited guests, including Queenstown Lakes district councillors, at The Hills, the players took to Sir Michael's course for an informal longest-drive competition.
While some were naturals with the golf club, others required some tutelage from The Hills superintendent Brendan Allen.
From there, the group headed to Wakatipu High School and were welcomed with a haka, before giving some insights on leadership.
Nonu was clearly a crowd favourite, blowing kisses to the hundreds of pupils before greeting a group of junior rugby players who rushed at him screaming ''Nonu, Nonu, Nonu''.
For one pupil it was all too much and she burst into tears after having her photograph taken with Nonu and McCaw.
The final stop was Queenstown Airport, where the players were mobbed within seconds of arriving, putting paid to plans to have the players check in travellers' baggage.
McCaw said the quick visit to Queenstown had been ''great''.
''The last couple of years we've done this sort of thing around the country. I think it's pretty special for little towns. It's our chance to say thanks.''
