The first time Paul Lasike watched an American football game he had the best seat in the house.

He was sitting at sideline on an uncomfortable wooden bench. The action itself was a blur as Lasike gazed through the gap between helmet and grill, wearing heavy pads on his shoulders. On that day Lasike didn't get on the field, and he's thankful for that, but it was still quite the introduction to a new sport that he had only just begun to learn.

Now he has a crack at making one of the NFL's best teams, the Arizona Cardinals, after being signed as an undrafted free agent this month.

A couple of years earlier, Lasike had been planning to pursue his dreams to play professional rugby, and Super Rugby in particular.

One of the standout players in the Church College first-XV, Lasike was a regular in Waikato representative teams at age group level. He played alongside the likes of Declan O'Donnell and Tim Nanai-Williams in the outside backs, with Tawera Kerr-Barlow inside feeding the formidable backline the ball.

Waikato Rugby picked Lasike for their academy during his seventh form year, and he looked set to make the steady rise up the rugby ranks, starting in the ITM Cup. Then came an offer from a college dean to head to the United States on a four-month rugby scholarship.

At first, Lasike thought it would be a short-term experience he simply couldn't pass up, however, American college rugby scouts liked what they saw and convinced him to stick around.

"I was born and raised in Auckland. I started playing league from a very young age and then got into union when I went to intermediate and high school," Lasike said. "When I came to the States initially it was just for the experience. I was planning on returning to New Zealand, working on maybe pursuing a career in rugby.

"It was never my plan to stay over here, but once I got here plans changed."

Lasike's plans were altered by the coaching crew at Brigham Young University in Provo, Ohio, who convinced him to join the school where he would play in a national championship-winning rugby team.

Joining BYU in 2009, Lasike was suddenly called to take his two-year mission with the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Birmingham, Alabama, an experience Lasike said he loved. Throughout his mission BYU stayed in contact with him, and kept his place on the programme when he returned in 2012.

Rugby was the major focus - along with earning a degree - but then came American football and coach Bronco Mendenhall, who saw potential in the young Kiwi winger. It took time, but Mendenhall and the coaching staff converted Lasike into a fullback, ploughing the road for the team running back and getting plenty of carries himself.

"It was pretty frustrating at first playing football," Lasike said of his first year with the BYU Cougars. "You're learning all the new plays and you're not getting a lot of playing time, so it is really frustrating sitting on the sideline.

"Those are things that made it really tough, but I'm glad I stuck it out and it worked out in my last two years."

Lasike ran the ball 33 times for 129 yards in his first year, scoring two touchdowns. In year two, he ran 59 times for 350 yards and only one touchdown, but in his final year Lasike was a standout. Playing every game and starting in 10, Lasike rushed the ball 79 times for 364 yards, scoring seven touchdowns. He also caught the ball 25 times for 267 yards and two touchdowns, and was one of Mendenhall's go to men on offence for the Cougars.

In one match, against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on November 15, Lasike had the best game of his brief career, rushing for 70 yards on eight carries and two touchdowns, while also catching one pass for 26 yards and a touchdown. Those performances saw Lasike named in the College Sports Madness All-Independent Third Team, and he was also named an all-American for the college rugby team.

Because of those efforts Lasike soon had interest from scouts, while agents wanted to represent him with the 2015 NFL Draft around the corner. He soon realised the NFL, never something he had considered, was a possibility.

"I was fortunate to be able to learn the game enough to really contribute to the team, and I had a pretty okay year, really," Lasike said.

"But if you'd asked me even eight months ago if I'd be interested in playing in the NFL, I was just planning to finish up my degree and then finding work in my field.

"I was invited to an All-Star game, which is kind of like a rep team, so that was surprising, and then I had an agent wanting to represent me, and I had these coaches encouraging me to give it a shot.

"Midway through my senior season is when I really started taking it seriously, especially when I got invited to that All-Star game.

"I was never really expecting to be drafted because I am really raw as a player, but surprisingly I got picked up afterwards as an undrafted free agent, which is so mean."

This is only the start for Lasike. The hard part is just beginning as he learns a new footballing system, the hundreds of plays in Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians' playbook, and proves he has the athletic ability and football smarts to make it in the NFL.

Lasike describes learning the technicalities of American football like only a converted rugby player could: "It's not just running around with your hair on fire. It's pretty technical. If you don't get it right you'll end up eating the grass," he said.

"In rugby you grow up learning the lingo, like a 1-2 cut, or a 2-3 cut, and it just makes sense to you because you always know what that means.

"In American football they have those terms, but there's like a hundred of them and I have to learn every one, plus the plays and everything."

Now that Lasike has had a small taste of NFL life - he's been in camp with the Cardinals for a week - he doesn't want to miss out on the squad. Training alongside some of the biggest names in the code, like Larry Fitzgerald or Carson Palmer, Lasike has been star struck, and loves it.

"I love life over here, eh. Honestly, the way they treat you, even in college football over here is probably similar to Super 15, just because it's a million dollar buzz, you know.

"You get treated so well. It's even bigger being at an NFL team."

Rugby is now well and truly in the past for Lasike. Well, that's the plan, anyway.

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