SYDNEY : Ruben Love, a Super Rugby standout and All Blacks debutant last season, plays his first game of the year for the Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday, looking to make an unanswerable case for more test rugby in 2025.
The fullback's return from ankle reconstruction surgery to face Moana Pasifika in Auckland comes ahead of schedule and the 23-year-old is nothing if not ambitious for what he can achieve this year.
"I was pretty pleased with how last year panned out," Love told Reuters at the season launch in Sydney last month.
"I was happy, but not satisfied and I want to push on. I want to win Super Rugby. I want to play more of a role for All Blacks. I'm more motivated than ever after last year."
New Zealand is not short of test quality outside backs but Love does not spend much time thinking about the other contenders for All Blacks jerseys.
"I feel like when I'm doing everything right, and my life's aligned, I can be one of the best fullbacks, if not the best, fullback in the world," he added.
"So for me, it's just about working towards that, and if I reach that goal, then I should be playing for the All Blacks."
With such confidence, it comes as little surprise that Love was mentored at the Hurricanes by charismatic former All Blacks scrumhalf TJ Perenara, who left New Zealand for Japan at the end of last year.
The pair bonded over their shared Maori culture - Love's father was also a Maori All Black and his mother is from the English city of Liverpool - and an appetite for hard work.
"We kind of just got close when I was probably 18 years old," he recalled.
"And I guess it's like anyone, when you share similar beliefs and values, you just naturally gravitate towards that person.
"And we just work hard every morning
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