Versatility could be the driver that transforms Liam Wright from Wallabies squad bolter to Test player in a dream debut in his country of birth.
Wright was born in Durban before moving to Australia at age seven and making his Test debut in South Africa, where he still has plenty of extended family, would mean a great deal to the Reds backrower.
As one of three uncapped players in coach Michael Cheika's first squad of a World Cup year Wright knows he is not a walk-up starter.
But if he is able to force his way into the match-day 23, Wright will have completed a journey that is a win not only for the player and his family but could be significant for Australian rugby.
"It'd be awesome, you couldn't script it," Wright said of a potential Test debut in South Africa.
"I probably grew up watching the Springboks more that the Wallabies for a few years being over in south Africa, so it was always a dream to play over there, it would be so special.
"And to be able to have extended family there as well, it'd be awesome.
"But I don't want to get ahead of myself yet, I've still got a few weeks of hard work and we'll see what happens."
While he plays at no.7 for the Reds and has been selected in the Wallabies squad as an openside flanker - an opportunity that opened with David Pocock still battling a calf injury - Wright's versatility could yet be the greatest string to his bow.
The 21-year-old was called into Wallabies camp in May and left with plenty to work on if he was to win a call-up to the Rugby Championship squad.
His commitment to work on those areas has impressed Cheika, who said Wright was not just an insurance policy for Pocock.
"If you look at Liam, we had a camp in May and he only came in for a day of that and we had a word to him about a couple of things that we thought he needed to bring in the back half of the season that would get him a show and back into the squad," Cheika said.
"We felt he did. And then on the back of what he's delivered over the last couple of weeks as well (in Wallabies camp), there's a real opportunity for him, and a real opportunity for us, to get him involved.
"In May, he was probably a fair way away from that and he took on board the things and got himself sorted and got into the squad."
Wright revealed Cheika's main request was for him to become more dynamic around the field.
"Mainly in attack but also in defence," Wright said.
"He wanted me to work on things like running on to the ball a bit more and work at the line instead of just catching it standing still and taking it into heavy contact, try and look to try and play that link role a bit better between the forwards and the backs.
"And that translated to defence. If I could try and get up off the line a bit more and put some heat on the inside, turnovers would come a bit easier, which tended to happen in the back half of the season which I was really happy with.
"Just trying to be more dynamic and make my workrate a really big factor in my game. He said that could be something that really separated me from the pack."
Cheika said there was "no doubt" Wright had a big future in the game.
"The back half of the year, I think he's been one of the best players going around," Cheika said.
"He's been aggressive on the ball, he's got good lineout - he's got some different strings to his bow for an openside - but he's an option to steal ball from the ground as well as having a big engine and big workrate."
Wright and fellow uncapped forwards Luke Valetini and Isi Naisarani will contend for backrow spots, along with Jack Dempsey, Michael Hooper, Luke Jones and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.
It's a talented and crowded pack but Wright hopes having several strings to his bow will help.
"I wouldn't say I was an out and out seven (in my early days) and probably to be fair I'm still not an out and out seven by the familiar mould of it," he said.
"I'd like to say I've got that good fetcher ability but also a bit more height and hopefully keep on putting on a bit more size that can make me a backrower that can run hard, tackle hard and then have that ability to do the lineouts and the fetcher role as well, develop that into my own style."
Wright has learnt plenty from two of the best sevens in world rugby while in camp and is determined to act like sponge while around Pocock and Michael Hooper to improve his game regardless of whether he eventually wins a World Cup spot or not.
"We've probably got different sorts of playing styles, so it's been really cool getting an idea (of what they do)," Wright said.
"Obviously Hoops has got that really strong wide-running game and Poey's just the best there is at the breakdown.
"I'm probably not in the mould of either of them.
"I have a bit of a different skill set with a bit of lineout capability, so I'm just trying to take bits from each of their games and mould it into my own style play and just learn from what they're doing, watch what they're doing, it's awesome just to take a bit out of what they do and put it into my own game."
And while he's just 21, Wright now believes he belongs at this level.
"I think I've probably been guilty a few times in the past years of thinking that I probably didn't really belong there," he said.
"There's guys there that have played there for so long and I've wondered (in the past) if I deserve to be in the same group as them, I guess.
"But playing a lot of Super Rugby this year, a lot of minutes and a lot of time, I thought I put some good footy forward and that just gave me a lot of confidence going into this group and just ripping in."
