It's not often that rugby writers use the phrase "generational talent" but it has often been bandied about with reference to the 20-year-old wunderkind Canan Moodie.
He was still in high school when the Springboks won in Japan in 2019, and is only playing in his second year of senior rugby. Not that it shows.
His try on debut against Australia last year was sheer class. He jumped high to collect a kick-chase, embarrassing the much more experienced Marika Koroibete, and left the defenders in his dust.
Moodie had arrived.
Where to slot the talented youngster into an already potent backline is one of the nicer problems for coach Jacques Nienaber -- especially with the equally brilliant Lukhanyo Am sidelined with injury.
Unusually spoilt for choice, the Springboks have regular starters Cheslin Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi, as well as try-scoring machine Kurt-Lee Arendse.
Finding a place for Moodie, the new Frans Steyn, in the starting line-up at outside centre has been a revelation.
He was unlucky not to have scored an audacious try against the All Blacks at Twickenham in the final warm-up match, having been judged to be offside.
It demonstrates exactly why he is such a talent. Kicking the ball out from the hands of an All Blacks player, he gathered it, sidestepped two New Zealanders and ran 50 metres to score.
But as his teammates celebrated, the television match official disallowed it.
He had already shown amazing vision, to make a pass while facing backwards that led to another Springbok try.
"Most of us get our skills in the streets growing up," Moodie told the Guardian afterwards.
"You learn a natural ability to beat guys in small spaces. We play on a road that's probably five metres wide, with a bunch of guys. You learn how to try and beat them from a young age."
Growing up in Amstelhof outside Paarl, Moodie would walk 15 km to rugby practice, inspired by his brother Keanu, who is a long jumper.
"We all have different backgrounds but mine was gangsterism and drugs," said Moodie.
"Two houses away from me was a drug house. When I go home now, things are still there. It wasn't the greatest ofenvironments to grow up in. Playing touch rugby on the grass or in the road was our way of staying busy and keeping away from that."
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And busy he has been ever since, playing outside centre for Boland Landbou. He played for Western Province's youth teams in 2019 and 2020, then joined the Blue Bulls Academy and played in the 2021 provincial Under-20 championship.
Selected for the SA Under-20 team the following year in what would have been the Junior World Championship but for Covid-19, he scored twice in both games against Uruguay and Argentina.
After debuting for the Bulls in the 2022 Currie Cup, he scored in his first professional match that January against Western Province.
Later that year, Jake White drafted him into the Bulls team for the United Rugby Championship, which lost the final against the Stormers.
It has been a charmed run for the talented youngster, and richly deserved -- especially given how he escaped the poverty and drugs of his hometown.
Watching Springbok games as a kid, he told the Guardian he'd pretend to be a Bok. "At half-time we'd go out into the road and I'd imagine myself in this position. I'd be running in the road alone, kicking a ball, scoring the match-winning try.
"This is what I dreamed of years ago, so to be here is very special. If you'd told me a few years ago I'd be playing against the All Blacks at a packed Twickenham I'd have laughed in your face. It makes all of it worth it."
Talk about dreams coming true!
