Salesi Rayasi's decision to miss the Tokyo Olympics to remain with the Hurricanes in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman is paying off, after another impressive showing in Friday's 43-6 victory over the Force in Napier.
In another display of attacking rugby, the Hurricanes ran in seven tries and conceded just two penalties in reply to move top of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, having picked up maximum points from their first three games.
At the heart of the scoring blitz was 24-year-old winger Rayasi, who scored twice and proved to be a thorn in the side of the Force.
But Rayasi's Super Rugby Trans-Tasman stint comes at the expense of the chance to chase gold in Tokyo, having pulled himself out of contention to head to the Olympics with the New Zealand Sevens side to stay put with the Hurricanes.
Rayasi's decision was unique though, with both Caleb Clarke of the Blues and Etene Nanai-Seturo putting their Super Rugby ambitions to the side to chase New Zealand's first Olympics sevens gold.
Clarke's decision could even impact his All Blacks career, with the five-test winger to miss the upcoming July matches against Tonga and Fiji.
"It was extremely hard," Rayasi told Sky Sport of his decision to skip the Tokyo Games.
"I wanted to get a full experience of Super Rugby and it was a tough decision and kind of last-minute.
"Seeing those two [Clarke and Nanai-Seturo] go sort of made me sick in the stomach, but oh well."
Rayasi has already equalled his try tally from Super Rugby Aotearoa, with the double against the Force and another against the Rebels last week giving him three with two rounds left to play.
The winger scored a Hurricanes-leading three tries in Super Rugby Aotearoa, tied with Jordie Barrett and Asafo Aumua.
New Zealand were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympic sevens tournament in Rio de Janeiro, knocked out by eventual gold medal winners Fiji.
