He is the son of a Canberra Raiders legend, and Neori Nadruku did not look out of place in making his John I Dent Cup debut with the Queanbeyan Whites.
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The 19-year-old celebrated his promotion to the top grade as the Whites overcame a seven-point half-time deficit to claim a vital 42-22 victory against the Gungahlin Eagles at Nicholls Oval on Saturday.
Nadruku is a former Australian Schoolboys representative and a powerful prop who is the polar opposite of his famous father Noa, who crossed for 73 tries in 92 games for the Raiders from 1993 to 1997.
Whites coach Adam Fahey said Nadruku had performed strongly against the Eagles scrum and showed why he has been touted for higher honours.
"Nothing fazes him,'' Fahey said. ''He could play Super Rugby tomorrow and it wouldn't faze him.
"He's going to be hard to move from the first-grade team, literally.
"We've got a massive injury toll and it was a chance to reward a couple of our younger players who have been playing well in the lower grades.''
Another one of those was fellow 19-year-old Aidan Kenworthy, the blindside flanker having a massive impact in his first game at the top level, scoring two tries.
The bonus-point victory means the Whites have leapfrogged the Eagles into second spot on the table.
They were at long odds to do that when the Eagles held a 22-15 lead at half-time.
But a determined second 40 minutes resulted in the Whites piling on 27 unanswered points and running away with the game.
Queanbeyan has had an up and down start to the season.
It got within three points of beating the three-time reigning premiers Tuggeranong Vikings, but lost to Uni-Norths a fortnight ago and only just scraped past Easts last weekend.
"The second half was the best we've played all season, and we needed to after our first half,'' Fahey said.
"We just wanted to keep it simple and follow what we've trained all week, and we were able to get the result.
"We stuck to our plan. We had a few areas we wanted to work on and the players were able to execute it.''
The Vikings recorded their fifth straight win to start the season after beating Wests 33-22 at Viking Park.
Meanwhile, Canberra Royals easily accounted for Easts, which is the only winless team in the competition, 45-8 at Phillip Oval.
John I Dent Cup: Queanbeyan Whites 44 bt Gungahlin Eagles 22. Tuggeranong Vikings 33 bt Wests 22 at Viking Park. Canberra Royals 45 bt Easts 8 at Phillip Oval.
