FILE PHOTO: Rugby League - England v New Zealand - Third Test - DW Stadium, Wigan, England - 14/11/15 Roger Tuivasa Sheck of New Zealand in action. Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Ed Sykes Livepic
(Reuters) - Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's rise to the brink of a first All Blacks cap might appear an overnight success story but the rugby league convert's path was set as a schoolboy heading to a barbecue at a big house on a hill owned by former sevens icon Eric Rush.
On Thursday, Tuivasa-Sheck was named on the bench in Ian Foster's squad for the third test decider against Ireland, less than five months after playing his first professional match in the 15-man game for the Auckland Blues.
The 29-year-old centre played more than 200 matches in Australia's National Rugby League with the Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Warriors, earning a championship with the former and a 'Dally M' medal with the latter as the competition's most valuable player.
However, the drive to become an All Black came in his school days while still finding his feet in both football codes.
One of his junior coaches was Rush, a winger who played nine times for the All Blacks and dozens of matches for New Zealand's all-conquering rugby sevens teams, earning Commonwealth Games gold medals at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Manchester in 2002.
Tuivasa-Sheck said he knew he wanted to be an All Black the day he visited Rush's house in the southern suburbs of Auckland.
"Rush ... was a legend in the rugby space. He had a barbecue at his house. He lived in Manukau Heights and I lived in Otara, and to go to his place you had to drive up the hill," Tuivasa-Sheck said on Thursday.
"He had a really nice house - a lot bigger, a lot cooler than where I was living in Otara. I said, 'This is what I want for my family', and tried my best to chase the dream ever since."
Having made a seamless transition with the Blues in Super Rugby, Tuivasa-Sheck will hope to complete the fairytale by featuring in a series-sealing victory over the Irish at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday.
A number of school friends will fly down from Auckland and join family members in the crowd to support him.
Untested at the highest level, Tuivasa-Sheck's inclusion in such a big game was queried by some fans on Thursday but Foster said he was ready and deserved his place.
Tuivasa-Sheck said it had been tough trying to learn the All Blacks system and he had been sweating over notes on his iPad until Foster tapped him on the shoulder during one session.
"He said, 'We're not building robots here. You're all footy players.'
"I just want to go out there and make sure I nail my role, tick A, B and C, but Foster wants us to go and play and express ourselves," added Tuivasa-Sheck.
"So that's probably the biggest learning I've been getting over the last two weeks."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
