KEY POINTS:
John Schwalger is slowly digesting his rapid rugby elevation to the All Blacks and has already seen enough to hope he isn't just flavour of the month.
The Samoan-born prop took a step along his assimilation to the New Zealand test side yesterday when he tried out his
training kit for the first time ahead of the international season opener against France at Eden Park on Saturday.
The Wellington and Hurricanes loosehead, whose ability to play either side of the front row saw him selected as something of a bolter, may not be thrown in against the non-recognisable Six Nations champions -- but he is anxious to prove he's not destined to be remembered as just another inconsequential number.
Schwalger, 23, is the 10th prop employed by Graham Henry and his fellow selectors during their reign so the challenge for the amiable fast food lover is not to become another Campbell Johnstone or Clarke Dermody, bookends who now find themselves in the Junior All Blacks.
That side was where Schwalger had expected to spend the representative season but Greg Somerville's complicated rehabilitation from a torn Achilles tendon last August -- and a solid Super 14 for the struggling Hurricanes -- proved the catalysts for his surprising promotion.
Somerville's injury in Pretoria last August barely registered at the time.
"I never thought about this. I thought the team had already been sussed out for this campaign and the World Cup," he said.
"There's a lot of good props in this country -- (John) Afoa and (Saimone) Taumoepeau, Dermody .... guys that have played before me. I thought they'd be in the running."
Instead the mobile scrummager is getting up to speed with his many and varied responsibilities as an All Black.
"I'm getting used to it but it still hasn't really sunk in," he confessed after sharing media responsibilities with the more seasoned Tony Woodcock.
Considering Somerville remains an unlikely World Cup contender to support Woodcock and Carl Hayman, Schwalger finds himself near the head of the back-up propping queue alongside fellow Wellington man mountain Neemia Tialata.
It is a position is he determined to protect.
"Being in this team is good but I don't want to be one of those guys that come in and then go straight out.
"I want to impress and show them what I've got."
One point he wants to prove is that his appetite is under control -- a clear area of concern for the All Blacks management.
Schwalger and Tialata are on tailormade diets to prevent them ballooning out, a weakness the new boy blamed on the aroma of fried chicken.
"At the 'Canes I started off well but as the season went on I got carried away," Schwalger said.
"I'd drive past KFC and smell it and turn around. I'd go and grab one and say I'd do some extras (training) tomorrow.
"Tomorrow morning would come around and I'd say I'd do it the next day ...."
He has not had the same leeway since scrum coach Mike Cron set the ground rules.
"These guys are pretty strict. I still like my meat, but now it's the right amount."
Schwalger now tips the scales at a respectable 120kg, 6kg less than his mid-season weight.
His slimmed down frame has enhanced his running game, an area he pinpointed as his biggest advance during the Super 14 under Colin Cooper.
"I've just been doing what the coaches have been telling me -- be more mobile around the field, carry the ball, tackle more."
However, scrummaging is still his bread and butter and he had no qualms about making the step up whenever the calls comes.
Schwalger could be slated to earn his first test cap against Canada in Hamilton on June 16 though he could be thrown into the fray at Eden Park.
"I'm just trying to (re)lax it out, not be nervous when I get the chance. I want to stick to my same routine."
Head coach Graham Henry names his side at 2pm with centre remaining the main area of concern after Isaia Toeava and Ma'a Nonu had ankle problems yesterday.
Pre-existing hamstring strains for Mils Muliaina and Conrad Smith complicate the midfield make-up.
- NZPA