Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has kept tight-lipped on his sporting future amidst reports linking him with a move from rugby league to rugby union.
The 24-year-old Kiwis fullback played the full 80 minutes on Saturday as his side bagged a 38-8 Rugby League World Cup win over Samoa, scoring a breakaway try and terrorising the defence with his link-up play and runs from deep.
Australian media reports on Friday suggested Tuivasa-Sheck was keen to switch from rugby league to rugby and vie for an All Blacks Test jumper.
The Samoan-born livewire played both codes throughout high school before linking up with the Sydney Roosters, winning an NRL Premiership in 2013.
He has since earned a big-money move to the Warriors.
Tuivasa-Sheck wouldn’t be drawn on the rumours on Saturday, putting the kibosh on any code-hopping talk and saying he was proud to be a Kiwi.
He said this week’s headlines hadn’t fazed him.
“I don’t really have anything towards it, not disappointed or happy. Just happy to be here, proud to be a Kiwi and trying to get better here before I look anywhere else. Can we keep it about the game?” Tuivasa-Sheck told reporters.
“I was all synced into what we were doing here as a team.”
Should Tuivasa-Sheck make the switch, he’d have little time to impress All Blacks coach Steve Hansen before the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
But Hansen admitted he liked the idea of having Tuivasa-Sheck at his disposal, with his pace, creativity and composure in the air all major assets.
Those traits were on display on Saturday as Tuivasa-Sheck ran amok against Toa Samoa, but the fullback said his side had plenty to work on.
Samoa went toe-to-toe with the Kiwis in the first half, dominating the middle through their bustling forwards until eventually running out of puff.
“We told ourselves, let’s just weather the storm, we know they’re going to fall off – but they came out, the whole first half and really tested us,” Tuivasa-Sheck said.
“A few of us were a bit too excited, you know, throwing the ball around, and coming into the second half we did a lot more of what we wanted.”
Tuivasa-Sheck’s Kiwis will round off their World Cup pool with Tests against Scotland and Tonga, while Hansen’s All Blacks – including rugby league converts Sonny Bill Williams, Ngani Laumape and Matt Duffie – are currently on their end-of-year Test tour in Europe.
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