It may be his first All Blacks Test but Roger Tuivasa-Sheck isn't letting the moment - or the gravity of Saturday's match - get to him.
Tuivasa-Sheck was named for his All Blacks debut on Thursday with Ian Foster handing him a spot on the bench for the series-decider against Ireland in Wellington.
Pressure is mounting on the All Blacks with Saturday's loss in Dunedin, Ireland's first win over New Zealand on Kiwi soil, being their third defeat in their last four Tests.
For many All Blacks rookies, debuting in such an environment would be a near-impossible task but for Tuivasa-Sheck - who has his previous experience in rugby league to fall back on - it's another chance to shine.
"You've got to cherish these opportunities - that's how I see it," Tuivasa-Sheck said after his selection.
"This is a dream. As a competitor or an athlete you want to play on these big stages and if you want to tell yourself 'I want to be the best in the world', these are the stages where you get to prove that.
"Sometimes you go in and you win and you think, 'hey, I'm one step closer' or you go and you lose so you take the lessons but you can't get any bigger.
"For me to be on this stage, it's every competitor's dream."
The 29-year-old said the feeling in the All Blacks camp was positive despite the outside noise, including the side's drop to an all-time low of fourth in World Rugby's global rankings earlier this week.
"I think we get over [last week's loss] quite quickly because this whole organisation is just a well-oiled machine and they're ready to just get better and figure out what's next," he said.
"That's how the mood is - the boys are still upbeat and Wellington is another home for a lot of our players."
"I've chased the dream ever since"
While Saturday's debut has been years in the making for Tuivasa-Sheck and features a unique journey getting there, the origins of his childhood dream stem from one of the black jersey's great characters - Eric Rush.
Tuivasa-Sheck was coached by Rush in his youth and revealed a fateful trip to the former All Black's home set him on his path.
"He had a barbeque at his house and he had a house in Manukau Heights," the midfielder recalled.
"I lived in Otara so to go to his place you had to go up the hill and we got to his house and he had a really nice house - it was a lot bigger and a lot cooler than the house that I was living in in Otara.
"I just sort of said, 'this is the sort of house I want for my family' and I've chased the dream ever since."
He added Rush, along with his dad and "all the Rushy uncles" were tough on him and other promising players, treating them all as their own kids to get the best out of them.
"They'd continue to just drill and drill us to make sure we put our best foot forward," he said.
"Rushy used to always tell us he wasn't the most talented kid out there but he worked and worked his butt off to get to places he never dreamed of getting to.
"That's what stuck for me."
Tuivasa-Sheck will have the chance to put that philosophy into practice when he puts his best foot forward on Saturday.
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