While it was a disappointing end to the All Black Sevens team's attempt to retain their Wellington crown yesterday, their expat Whanganui High School player rarely put a foot wrong in his international debut.
The 18-year-old Vilimoni Koroi impressed all the pundits with his skills and speed on Day 1 of the tournament, having several pivotal moments in the victories over Samoa, France and the especially the United States when he entered the starting lineup and scored an excellent individual try which he converted.
It promised to be a tough baptism when Koroi jogged on with 2m 41s left in the opening match against Samoa, who were being coached by NZ's former sevens guru in Sir Gordon Tietjens.
Koroi took over the lineout throws and was met with a hard ball-in-all tackle first up, but had time to show off his evasive running before New Zealand ran out 33-7 winners.
Things got even more tense in the second match with France, as Koroi came on and was the last man to just miss a tackle on a French breakaway which narrowed New Zealand's lead to 21-14 with 47s left.