All Blacks wing Rieko Ioane, pictured celebrating with Lima Sopoaga during the test match against the Springboks in Albany this season, has scored eight tries in nine test appearances.

As Rieko Ioane slowly lowered his muscular frame into a sofa at the Marriott Hotel in Brisbane, it was difficult to resist doing some mental arithmetic.

All Blacks wing Ioane and older brother Akira still live at home with parents Eddie and Sandra in Auckland, and when you get two professional rugby players of their size eating under the same roof you are going to need considerable amounts of fuel to pump into their bodies.

In other words, the weekly grocery bill in the Ioane household is unlikely to be modest.

NIGEL MARPLE/REUTERS Rieko Ioane is the prototype of the modern wing.

Rieko, 20, is the prototype of the modern wing. He stands 1.89m, is listed as weighing 102 kg - even though he looks at least a couple of kilos bigger - and is one of the quickest finishers in the world with eight tries in nine tests. Akira, a back rower for the Blues and Auckland, is 21 months older, about 10kg heavier and 5cm taller.

READ MORE:

* Todd out of Bledisloe III

* Squire a 'physical beast'

* ABs matches on livestream

* Chatty Coles doesn't hold back

* Sopoaga shrugs off nerves

HANNAH PETERS/GETTY IMAGES Rieko Ioane emerged as an All Black during the Lions tour.

These guys are a couple of big units. Eddie and Sandra could play back in the day, too; Eddie locked the scrum for Manu Samoa and was in the team captained by the late Peter Fatialofa during the 1991 World Cup, while Sandra represented the Black Ferns.

First things, first. Who does the cooking in the Ioane household?

"Mum and I," says Rieko. "Dad and Aki are pretty useless. My specialty? Roast lamb, mashed potatoes and sauce."

Rieko knows he is on to a good thing at home. He appreciates everything his parents did for him as a kid, carting him and Akira around to rugby games, and also helping him make the transition into the world of pro rugby when he left school.

The Ioane's generosity was evident when Sandra, who works as a manager at the Ponsonby rugby club, offered a British and Irish Lions fan a place to stay when she discovered he had nosed his vehicle into the club's car park prior to the tourists' game against the Blues at Eden Park.

Rieko said he wasn't surprised his mother opened-up the family home to a stranger, who had no idea he was residing in the same household as two men who preparing to play the Lions in the mid-week match in June.

"It was just mum being mum. We had just finished our captain's run at the Blues, showed-up and there he was. He was a good man. Mum and dad appreciated the company.

"I can't speak highly enough of them - I am sure everyone says that about their mums and dads. They just saw it as helping out someone who needed a place to stay."

Rieko, who had made his test debut against Italy in Rome last November, learned to accept the knocks as a boy. With the family owning just the one car, it was more convenient for both brothers to play in the same team at Ponsonby which meant Rieko had to go up a grade when he was around eight years old.

He played halfback until he was in the fourth form at Auckland Grammar, slowly gravitating out to the wing as he got bigger.

Akira, a NZ Maori representative, and Rieko had their share of backyard battles and emotions could run high. They have remained close. As Sandra noted earlier this year, they have shared the same room for 19 years.

"When I was young, he was always real caring and protective of me because I was small and it wasn't until I was at college that I started growing a bit," Rieko said in reference to Akira. "He has always looked after me - he still does."

In 2013, Rieko was selected for the Auckland Grammar 1st XV. Less than two years later, at 17, he made his debut for the NZ Sevens team.

He says he misses playing, but not the gut-busting training runs.

"I am sure you have heard the stories about how hard the trainings are. I definitely miss the tournaments and the culture the sevens boys had, but I can't complain. I'm enjoying it more being in the All Blacks."

Eddie played five tests for Manu Samoa in the 1990-91 seasons before moving to play professionally in Japan for the Ricoh club.

Rieko was born in Auckland but lived in Japan for a couple of years when he was young, prior to moving back to New Zealand.

Given his dad's bloodlines and his time with the Samoan national side, it shouldn't be a surprise that he got to know Fatialofa before he died suddenly in 2013.

"He was close to the family because he is actually my uncle, and I keep in touch with his children," Rieko says.

"He was a good guy. Always friendly. And a hard man; because we were young and we were obviously annoying everyone running around the house, having our sleep overs as cousins.

"A great man, a huge icon of Samoan rugby."

On Saturday night, when the All Blacks meet the Wallabies in Brisbane, Ioane will make his eighth test start for the year. His rise has been swift, and given he is still relatively raw at the highest level, there is potential to be one of the best wings in the world.

He already possesses blistering pace, something the Springboks will remember well enough after Ioane sucked in a loose pass during the 25-24 win in Cape Town a fortnight ago and sprinted more than 80m to score.

And if he needs to reflect on his game, he knows he can rely on Eddie to provide an assessment.

"You come home from a game and he will sit us down for 25 minutes or so and just run down all the stuff we could have done better, what we did well and what need to work on.

"Dad keeps it real. He will tell us the truth. It keeps us grounded and our heads level."