From Nuku'alofa, to Nelson College - and now an All Blacks starter.
All Blacks wing Leicester Fainga'anuku. Photo: Photosport/Brett Phibbs
Pace and power have highlighted the rapid rise of 22-year-old Leicester Fainga'anuku.
And the Tongan-born Tasman Mako couldn't wait to use both when he made his test debut in Saturday's sold out first test against Ireland.
"Sitting in the sheds hearing the names flow by, and there hearing my name came out was surprising but, at the same time, something that sparked a bit of fire in my belly.
"To listen to that, hear my name get called out, really made me excited for the opportunity I've got in front of me.
An opportunity his room-mate this week, halfback Aaron Smith, was confident he would take.
"He's earned his spot.
"In New Zealand we're very blessed that that left winger jersey is always a sacred jersey in the All Blacks team and anyone who gets to put it on, it's an awesome opportunity.
"Leceister's excited about that but we're all pretty excited to see how Leicester goes."
Fainga'anuku wouldn't have Crusaders team-mates Will Jordan, David Havili or Jack Goodhue for company, with all three laid low by Covid.
He would have his Super Rugby skipper Scott Barrett, though, albeit not where most expected.
Primarily a lock, Barrett had been named to start at blindside flanker - something he hadn't done for the All Blacks since their semi-final defeat to England at the 2019 World Cup.
While that experiment wasn't a success, head coach Ian Foster was optimistic it could come off.
"I didn't spend too long thinking about 2019. We took some lessons from that, but they were learned a long time ago.
"On this one we were very clear about the strategy ... apart from his set piece acumen, and we know how good he is in that space, he also brings a bruising defence and a ball-carrying part to his game now...
"If you sit down with Scott, he finds the roles very similar now, except for a couple of defensive tweaks which we've had to make sure we tidy up."
Photo: Photosport
But similar wasn't the way to describe this week for Foster, who joined the 3 players, plus three of his assistants, in being hit by the virus.
He admitted it had been challenging preparing a test team from home, suggesting he probably hadn't been in the best of moods and owed his wife an apology.
Jokes aside, Foster said after a "dusty" couple of days, he was feeling good and all going to plan would rejoin the team on the morning of the test.
"The first two nights were cold sweats and sleepless.
"That's pretty normal for an All Blacks head coach for the first test of the year, so I wasn't quite sure whether I was sick or nervous.
"But I actually got through it pretty lightly, to be fair, and maybe being a little bit distracted with something else on my mind has helped me."
Fosters and his fellow selectors named just one other uncapped player in their 23, with Chiefs loosie Pita Gus Sowakula poised for his test debut off the bench.
As for Ireland, the All Blacks coach wasn't reading too much into their 15-point loss to the Maori All Blacks on Wednesday night.
"If New Zealand rugby fans were honest, there probably wasn't too many of their players that they knew the names of. It was a lot of younger players....
"I do know that the guys [that were] sitting in the grandstand probably represent a slightly different challenge."
Something the All Blacks player knew well.
Ireland had won three of their last five tests between the two teams, including a 29-20 victory in Dublin seven months ago.
A defeat Aaron Smith said made this opening test of the year - at a place the All Blacks hadn't lost for 28 years - all the more enticing.
"There's obviously still scar tissue. You'd be silly not to think about last year.
"But this group's been really excited about looking at the footage, reviewing that game ... [and] there's a lot of hungry people on the bus...
"We're jumping out of our skin to run out at Eden Park."
The 45,000 fans who got to be there would be pretty excited, too.
