Trip to NZ a rare gift for winger Osborne

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/The Press

LUCK RUNNING: Good fortune has led Fijian wing Patrick Osborne to the Canterbury NPC rugby team.

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It's been the 21st birthday present that's kept on giving.

To celebrate the milestone, and the end of his academic year studying marine biology at The University of the South Pacific in Suva, Patrick Osborne's mum decided to shout him a holiday to see relatives in Wellington.

But those plans soon got shelved when he was asked to join a Fijian invitation team at the Kenya Sevens and they stayed that way until February this year.

Keen to catch the Wellington Sevens as well, Osborne decided the time was right to finally take the promised trip to see his aunt and uncle, except he couldn't afford the prices they were charging to get into Westpac Stadium.

"I knew most of the Fiji team so I went around the hotel looking for tickets and I met a Fijian guy who said he coached Hutt Old Boys' Marist," explained Osborne, now 23.

"During the Wellington Sevens they were having a Marist Sevens as well and he asked me to play for his team, so I did that and then I got a call from him to say Canterbury wanted me to come down and do some tests."

It turned out that Canterbury Rugby Football Union academy manager Matt Sexton had been doing a spot of scouting at the Marist tournament and liked what he saw of Osborne. A contract was soon put in front of him and he made his debut for Canterbury in last week's pre-season match against Wellington and will also start tonight's round one clash with Hawke's Bay at AMI Stadium.

Aside from his workrate and pace, the other thing that Osborne demonstrated last week was bravery. He had to be stitched up after an ugly head clash, got creamed taking a high kick and was involved in a lot of other heavy contact.

"It's just my style," he said with a shrug. "In Fiji, if you drop a pass or miss a high ball or something, you get mocked. So you don't want to be that person."

A shy type, Osborne also did his best to play down a recent comment about his pace. No slouch himself, fullback Sean Maitland said he struggled to keep up with his new teammate.

"I've got the long strides and that but nothing like old Usain Bolt over there," Maitland said, pointing at Osborne.

"If I'm at fullback and he's on the wing, I'm just going to pass him the ball and go 'run mate. Run like Usain Bolt."'

Osborne wasn't biting.

"Well that's what a winger does, isn't it? Just run. But he is exaggerating too."

Osborne said he would not be nervous tonight, but was more mindful of the expectations of family in Fiji.

- © Fairfax NZ News