Tonight he will make his debut in the black jersey as he turns out for the New Zealand sevens team.
Ruru (23), the Otago halfback for the bulk of the Mitre 10 Cup season, has made a swift rise to play at the first international sevens tournament of the new season in Dubai, which kicks off tonight.
At the start of the season, Ruru was hoping to crack the Hawkes Bay team. But he had to get past Brad Weber, Chris Eaton and Ellery Wilson to add to the one cap he had with the Magpies, picked up off the bench last year.
Frustrated at making no headway in the black and white jersey, Ruru made a call partway into the season to get in touch with Otago, initially with the intention of heading south to impress and maybe get a chance up the road at North Otago.
With first-choice Otago halfback Josh Renton out for the season with a knee injury, Ruru upped and left Hawkes Bay and linked with the Pirates club.
He started playing club rugby and was deemed good enough to be named in the Otago squad.
Fellow Otago halfback Kaide Whiting was also in doubt after a head knock so Ruru started the season.
He was a combative halfback who had a nose for the gap and also had a decent pass. His kicking game needed work but that is not such a factor in sevens.
He ended up starting nearly all of Otago’s games, and had a top game in the Mitre 10 Cup final, in which he was one of Otago’s best.
Along the way he turned the heads of national sevens selectors, and went to a sevens camp at the end of the season. His strength and combativeness were good enough and he was invited back to a second camp where numbers were thinned out and Ruru was in with a real chance to make the squad.
He was duly selected for Dubai and would be part of the All Black sevens squad which plays its first match against Russia, just after 8.30pm tonight.
It will be the 80th tournament for veteran DJ Forbes.
Ruru is not the only member of his family making waves on the rugby field. His older brother Michael, who turns 26 tomorrow, has signed for the Western Force for next season, coming through from club rugby in Perth.