Four months ago, his league experience was a blank page. He had never played the game - not one set of six or run from dummy half.
Now, he is in a national age group squad, has an agent or three writing down his name and was named the most valuable player at the national championship for 15-year-olds in Auckland last week.
Rory, who boards at John McGlashan College in Dunedin when not at home on the family dairy farm near Milton, took up the game after friends and Otago Rugby League development officer Grant Milne persuaded him to have a go.
He went to the West Coast in June and played in a South Island tournament for Otago. From there, he was picked for the South Island side to go to the national tournament in Auckland last week.
He walked on to the field in Auckland with about a dozen games of league under his belt, facing lads who had been playing the game for 10 years or more.
''There were some massive guys there. Like, probably about 120kg in the forwards, who had been playing the game since they were 4 years old,'' 78kg Rory said.
But size and experience did not get in the way for Roryand the South Island side. It won two of its five games and came close to toppling eventual champion Auckland.
With his performances during the week, Rory was awarded the most valuable player prize and gained selection in a national squad which will form the basis of the New Zealand under-16 side next year.
Rory, who has played age group rugby for Otago in junior grades, plays in the second row in league.
There were plenty of agents and scouts at the tournament and he has a new pair of boots courtesy of an agent, but nothing has been signed yet.
Rory, a year 10 pupil, is an openside flanker in the John McGlashan College under-15 rugby side, and has had a couple of games for the First XV.
