All Blacks: Extraordinary talent could blossom on tour

TJ Perenara. Photo / Getty Images

There is a stunning test rugby player within TJ Perenara waiting to be set free. Maybe the first glimpses of that will come in the next few weeks - or maybe this tour is a look-and-learn one with a view to him blossoming in 2014.

The timing might be vague but nothing else is with this young man. Perenara has been good enough to hint at a glorious future, yet injured enough to somehow stay in the shadows. His name can be dropped as one to keep an eye on.

Last year, he was holding Super Rugby audiences spellbound with his capacity to pull off the impossible; there seemed nothing he couldn't do. The Hurricanes were the surprise package and much of that was due to Perenara. He created and scored outrageously good tries. His ability to see something out of nothing was extraordinary.

He was probably on track to make the November tour last year until he broke his leg in a meaningless June fixture in Brisbane.

That break has set him back a year.

He has not been the same player since. His work in 2013 has been comparatively less impressive. He has not shown the same elusive running around the fringes. He has not been quite as daring nor as outrageous. He's gone a little quiet, yet he's been in the test squad all year.

The reason for that is his raw athleticism. Perenara is a machine. He pushed up to level 19 - an incredible score - on the dreaded beep test. He's a relative monster, physically. He's 1.85m and 95kg. He could find another 5kg easily enough without losing any of his engine or top end speed and that means he offers an entirely different way to play than first choice halfback Aaron Smith.

The problem is that Perenara is very much raw material. He's screaming out to be coached, finessed, into a world-class No 9 and the All Black coaches are keen on picking up that challenge.

But for the fact he hasn't played for six weeks due to injury, he would have been involved in yesterday's test. Realistically, his next chance to play will most likely be in Ireland - the selectors aren't likely to hand him a debut against the heavyweight powers of France and England.

But a late cameo off the bench in Dublin ... that might be the place to unleash Perenara and begin the process of converting him into the global superstar many feel he's destined to be.

It might be, though, that he doesn't see any game time on this tour - having daily access to him is a massive opportunity as far as the coaches are concerned.

There's a belief that he can learn plenty at training, smooth off the rough edges and get a feel for the standards that are expected.

Perenara is only 21; there's no need to rush his progress but he's such a prospect that everyone would like to see him given a chance sooner rather than later.