Isa Nacewa's career is one full of titles, personal accolades, and a sense of what could have been.

The almost All Black turned Irish rugby legend Isa Nacewa sits down with Jackson Thomas after officially hanging up his boots to talk footy, finance, and the 120 seconds that changed his life.

It's the 80th minute of a 2003 Rugby World Cup match between Scotland and Fiji, on a sunny Saturday in Sydney, in late October.

A big crowd has turned out to watch the do-or-die clash where the equation was simple – winner goes through to the quarter-finals, loser goes home.

With Scotland ahead by two points and time all-but expired, Fiji had one last chance to steal a famous victory.

Coach Mac McCallion had one final substitution up his sleeve, and in the dying stages of the game, a fresh-faced 20-year-old Kiwi ran on to the left wing for the little island nation thanks to qualifying through his grandparents.

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Heart pounding out of his chest, palms wet with sweat, he frantically attempts to tie his wild hair as he crosses the white line and jumps into the action.

But in the next 120 seconds he fails to touch the ball and misses two tackles before the final hooter sounds.

That was the start and end of Isa Nacewa's test career.

"I didn't understand the ramifications at the time, how could I?" he says.

Nacewa got the call-up following a provincial win over Wellington, while out having a few beers with his Auckland teammates.

"I was a 20-year-old kid, and they said 'hey, want to come to the world cup', of course, I said yes."

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Nacewa now works as a financial adviser, with several high profile rugby and cricket clients.

Rugby is an 80-minute game, but that period of just a 120 seconds changed everything for Nacewa and robbed the All Blacks of a potential superstar.

The talented rugby player would go on to make 54 appearances for Auckland and 44 for the Blues.

But World Rugby's strict eligibility laws meant that he would never be able to represent New Zealand nor don the green of his later adopted homeland, Ireland.

According to regulation 8.2 in the World Rugby rulebook: A player who has played for the senior fifteen-a-side National Representative Team or the senior National Representative Sevens Team of a union is not eligible to play for another national side.

Despite that, Nacewa enjoyed a stellar professional career spanning 15 years which included championships and personal accolades around the world, though one can't help but associate the story of Isa Necewa with a feeling of what might have been.

He never played another game for Fiji, and the ripple effect of those fateful seconds extended to his Super Rugby career also.

New Zealand Rugby's control over Super Rugby in the early 2000s meant Nacewa's opportunities for the Blues were heavily restricted.

GETTY Nacewa kicks the winning penalty during the European Rugby Champions Cup Final match between Leinster Rugby and Racing 92, in May this year.

While riding the emotional weekly roller coaster of Blues selection, Nacewa's eligibility saga was being played out in the media and heard by the then IRB committee.

Ultimately it was decided that the rules were absolute. Nacewa had played for Fiji, which meant there was no chance of ever pulling on the black jersey.

It's fair to assume that the Auckland Grammar School product must be burdened with crippling regret. It must make him sick to his stomach, the All Blacks are, after all, every Kiwi kid's dream.

But Nacewa is not like everyone else.

"Honestly, not at all. And I can't emphasise that enough," he says.

With nothing keeping him in New Zealand, Nacewa left in 2007 after another victorious provincial campaign with Auckland and linked up with Irish powerhouse club Leinster.

He would go on to win multiple titles and become one of Irish rugby's greatest ever imports.

"You make decisions in life, and whether they are good or bad, they take you down a different path," he says.

Nacewa always wanted to play overseas and remains thankful for the friends and memories he made in Ireland, the birthplace of his four daughters.

"Had I not played those few seconds, none of that might have happened, so I never look back in regret."

To him, growing up, the All Blacks was never a realistic goal, it was a pipe dream, but never the be all and end all.

Isa Nacewa, pictured in his heyday with the Blues. He made over 50 appearances for the Auckland outfit before heading north.

Nacewa knew he was good, but admits he never felt like he was "All Black quality".

But ask anyone who played with him, and they'll tell you the something entirely different. He had "it".

Nacewa's longtime friend and former Auckland teammate Brent Ward says the champion outside back was the most gifted player he ever ran out with and would have made "a great All Black".

Ward says no matter where on the field he played, Nacewa was always among the best out there.

So, sitting in a Ponsonby cafe talking about the good old days, the question is put to Nacewa again, 'any regrets?', yet the answer remains the same.

"I have always looked forward. At the end of the day, I think you either want to be remembered or you want to remember people, and I am in the latter," he says.

"I have a list of blokes as long as this table who I played with that I respect, and genuinely care about. Guys I could grab a beer with tomorrow. That's what I'm most proud of."

It's clear that many of his fondest memories have come while enjoying "a few quiets" with the boys.

He was able to officially confirm a long spoken about provincial rugby legend, that he and Ward once chained themselves to a beer keg after a historic Ranfurly Shield win and locked themselves in the changing sheds in Christchurch, and didn't emerge until the next morning.

"There is quite a bit of truth to that, more than has probably been told to you," he says with a wry smile.

GETTY A return to coaching could yet be on the cards for Nacewa, desperate to deliver a title to the Blues.

Since retirement earlier this year, work looks a little different to what Nacewa has known for the last decade.

He is now a financial advisor for a small Auckland based company called Money Empire, a far cry from running out in front of thousands of screaming Irish rugby fans.

However, the 36-year-old has found a way to stay involved with the game he loves.

Money Empire is owned and run by Jess and Kayne Wahlstrom, and Nacewa assists a number of Super Rugby and New Zealand cricketers invest smartly.

The number one thing for Nacewa when he finished rugby was he wanted to work with good people, in a place with good values, he says.

"I got a lot of crap advice during my career, but I was lucky that I had great mentors like Doug Howlett who helped me make the right calls.

"I have seen a lot of guys finish playing with nothing, and it's sad, so if I can help in that respect, that's what I aim to do."

But Nacewa wouldn't rule out a return to the Auckland rugby scene entirely.

While he insists his career came with no regrets, never winning a Super Rugby title with the Blues is something that still haunts the one-time international.

He admitted the thought of being involved with the Blues down the line in a coaching capacity was something he wanted to pursue.

"I might have a few things to do with the Blues, around leadership and that, coming up, so we'll see where things go from there."

For now though it's leather loafers and not rugby boots that Nacewa pulls on each morning as he departs for work.

The only people screaming his name are his four young daughters, all dual citizens, all excited about adjusting to life back in New Zealand as a family.

For fans it might be a story of what if, but for the man himself it's a story of him not wanting to change a thing.