Marika Koroibete's decision to trade in his NRL career for a shot at a Wallabies jersey is paying dividends after starring in his run-on Test debut against the Springboks.
Hours before his former Melbourne Storm teammates were due to play in their second straight rugby league grand final, Koroibete grabbed two tries in his second international rugby appearance as Australia drew 27-27 with South Africa in Bloemfontein.
It's been a long road for the Fijian-born winger, who has had to bide his time for an opportunity under coach Michael Cheika after going on last year's European tour straight after wrapping up his NRL duties.
He has been included in every Wallabies squad since but had to wait until the clash against Argentina in Canberra for his first taste of Test rugby, and said being strung along by Cheika brought the best out of him.
"He is a smart man," Koroibete said.
"He has made me more hungry to get an opportunity and now I finally got a start.
"There have been a few wingers there who have been better than me so I just had to give it a crack, and give all I got for the Wallabies. That's the mentality I had."
Koroibete had to endure a wretched maiden Super Rugby campaign with the Melbourne Rebels but the 25-year-old always felt switching codes was the right move for him.
His new teammates are sure glad he crossed over to the 15-man code.
"He's pretty deadly," Kurtley Beale said.
"I've always watched him playing league for the Storm and now to get the opportunity to play with him, you can see why he's such a dominant player - so strong with the ball in hand and defensively very, very strong."
Cheika said he was impressed with both parts of Koroibete's game - not only his ability to finish off the chances provided to him, but the way he stopped a number of Springbok surges dead in their tracks.
"He probably had an NRL tackle count in the first 20 minutes," he said.
"I was really happy for him because he worked hard and did really well.
"There's still a few things to work out positionally but I think he had a stand out performance."
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