It took seven years but Ezra Taylor played his blazer game for Otago last Friday night.
It has been a long journey - via Brisbane, Ireland and England, and plenty of time on the sideline through injury.
Taylor (30) came on in the second half of last Friday night's game against Manawatu to play his 15th game for the side.
The lock-loose forward made his debut for Otago in 2006, playing the first game of the year against North Harbour, and looked as though he had a big career in front of him.
It did not pan out exactly as the Wesley College old boy, or anyone, planned, but he still wants to keep playing.
''At heart I'm still an athlete. If I'm not driving for goals then I'm a bit underdone. It felt natural to come back to it,'' Taylor said.
''I've still got the hunger for it. I still want to play the game partly because of all the experiences I've had and all the setbacks. I have not fulfilled my potential and played at a consistent level every week.''
Taylor made the Highlanders in 2007-08 but damaged his patella tendon in his right knee early in 2008, forcing him out of the game for the rest of the year.
He then headed to the Reds in Brisbane, where he was born, and spent a couple of years with the Queensland side.
He next moved to Ireland to pay for Connacht, admitting he was chasing the money.
After that, he played for the Worcester Warriors in England but did not last long.
Through all his travels, injury has not been far behind.
''I think I've had about five surgeries in the last five years. Two knees, a shoulder, an ankle. I've broken an arm.
''The way I got injured comes from the way I play the game. Just shock injuries, really. Nothing that I could train for.
''They are hard to come back from. Any big surgery is always going to be a mental blow. I think it just made me stronger in character, really.''
After picking up another tendon injury in his knee at Worcester, he went back to Brisbane with wife, Tall Blacks basketballer Natalie Taylor [nee Purchell], and started thinking about the future.
''I had a whole year away from the game when I was living in Brisbane and got my business up and going. And it was going well.
''It wasn't until I was put in touch with [Otago coach] Tony Brown that sort of flicked the switch, and I thought 'I do not want to have any regrets'.
''I've left my wife back in Brisbane, my business had to stop. But I think I'd rather do this then be an old man and saying 'what if?' I can always go back to my business.
''When you spend a year away from that rugby bubble you realise there is a big wide open world out there and rugby is just a minute part of it.''
He and his wife run a personal training business. His wife is playing basketball in the Australian national women's league for the Logan Thunder while he is enjoying being back in Dunedin.
Taylor said he was keen to play for Samoa again, after wearing the blue jersey twice in 2011.
But for now he is concentrating on playing for Otago, and getting some time on the paddock.
''I had a bit of a setback with my back but it is going good now. I'm loving being in a team environment again.''
