And all that experience and miles on the clock have taught him not to play the game in his head before kick-off.
Meeuws will pack down on the loosehead side for Otago in tomorrow afternoon's Ranfurly Shield challenge against Southland in Invercargill, and is expecting a torrid battle, against what he terms the form team of the national championship.
"We need to rise to the occasion and back ourselves. But you don't want to play the game in your head before it starts," he said.
"You can't get too far ahead of yourself. It is going to be a big game. We all know that. There is lots at stake. But we still have to go about our business and do those little things right."
Meeuws said Otago had binned last Saturday's forgettable match against Counties-Manukau and just has to focus on the next game.
"When you look at the stats, we had the majority of them. We had the ball. We had the territory but the problem was we couldn't hold on to the ball. We just didn't execute well enough.
"In the second half we had enough ball and made the metres, but we just couldn't get over the tryline. And that was the difference."
Meeuws said they had to be more clinical when the chances come along and convert them.
Not that he admits it will be easy against a clinical Southland side.
"They are the form team of the moment. They're made up of players who made the Highlanders, and have players who have earned international recognition. They are the big guns so we are going to have to rise to the occasion."
On the loosehead side he will mark Southland hard man Chris King, a player for whom Meeuws has plenty of respect.
"To me he is one of the hardest-working props in New Zealand rugby. He had a great year last year with Southland and I thought he should have been the starting tighthead prop for the Highlanders this season."
Meeuws, who played 42 tests for the All Blacks, had the majority of his rugby on the tighthead side, but has moved sides this season, with Sam Hibbard holding up the scrum on the other side.
He said the sides were completely different, with different jobs at scrum time, but he did not have any problems switching.
At 36, he said he was still enjoying the game and relishing the game time for Otago, after getting 80 minutes last Saturday.
"You know what they say, you're only as old as you feel. I'm careful in managing my body and feel good. I'm lifting heavier weights than ever. It's funny in New Zealand rugby that there is some sort of feeling out there that as soon as you get to 30 you've got to get overseas and leave it for someone else.
"But that is not the case. You look at overseas. In France some of the best props are 37, 38. They don't care about age over there, as long as you can do the business on the field."
He felt the importance of scrummaging had not been lost, despite some games having fewer than a dozen scrums.
"I still think it a huge part of the game. If anything it [scrummaging] is slowly coming back. Look at the All Blacks. They have a dominant scrum and that is where it all starts for New Zealand rugby. The All Blacks set the trend and the rest of the sides in New Zealand follow."
