Saving an elderly woman from a Napier house fire five years ago might, if it had gone wrong, snuffed out an All Blacks dream before it had begun.
Aged 14 at the time, Tyrone Dodd-Edwards ran through flames and hot ash into a blazing house to rescue the woman who, asleep in bed, was unaware of flames engulfing her home.
"I wasn't worried about myself," says Dodd-Edwards. "I just had a rush of adrenaline. I knew she lived in the house but I wasn't sure she was there. I went in, she was in bed asleep, but she woke up with a shock so I grabbed her and led her out."
The fire badly damaged the front room of the house but fortunately the woman – and Dodd-Edwards – were unhurt.
Now the 19-year-old wants to put out another fire – the one in his belly to make it into the All Blacks Sevens team at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. He is one of 48 male and 48 female athletes scouted by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) in a quest to uncover the next All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens superstars.
The group is this week attending a four-day event – known as Red Bull Ignite7 – where they will undergo intensive testing to measure their skill and athletic ability before taking part in a televised one-day tournament.
Focused on uncovering and developing the next generation of sevens rugby stars, Red Bull Ignite 7 is led by NZ Rugby and brought to life by the likes of Red Bull and The Warehouse.
NZR's head of high performance Mike Anthony, says Ignite7 is designed to encourage talented athletes from all sporting codes, regardless of rugby experience, to have a go at sevens.
"Our national sevens teams compete at the highest level on the world stage and we want to be sure we are casting the net as wide as possible and tapping into the huge reservoir of athletic talent that exists across New Zealand."
The Warehouse spokesperson Sarah Slawson says Ignite 7 is a way for the company to help everyday Kiwis looking to turn their dreams into reality: "We find ways to really get behind initiatives that reach into the community and provide opportunities to New Zealanders of all ages. Red Bull Ignite 7 is a great platform that brings young people together from around the country and gives them a chance to prove themselves while also providing them with a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
Ultimately six of the athletes – three men and three women – will be invited to attend the 2019 national sevens teams development camps.
"The six players will be training alongside the All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens next year," Anthony says. "It's a massive opportunity that will give these players access to the full benefits of NZR's high performance system and effectively opens the door for selection into our two national sevens teams."
For the women, Red Bull Ignite7 enhances and expands on the Go For Gold campaign which resulted in four athletes from non-rugby backgrounds – Michaela Blyde, Portia Woodman, Kayla McAlister and Gayle Broughton – representing New Zealand at the 2016 Olympics.
Dodd-Edwards – a stand-out player over the last two years for the Hawkes Bay Sevens team – says he has a strong desire to make the All Blacks Sevens: "I really want to wear the silver fern on my chest, especially at the Olympics."
But he knows he is lucky he even has the chance. The night of his dramatic rescue is still vivid in his memory.
"It was about nine at night and I was with my cousin (Watene Dodd-Robertson) when we noticed this bright light outside," he says. "We looked out and saw flames leaping from the house across the road.
"It was the right decision and if we hadn't gone in, she might not be alive today."
An apprentice drainlayer, Dodds-Edwards played 15 aside rugby before getting into sevens for a club side while in Year 12 at school.
"I fell in love with it; I enjoyed it more than 15s," he says. "I was approached by the coach of the Hawkes Bay Sevens and debuted for them last year. I never really had any goals in rugby until I played sevens, that is when I started to take it seriously."
One of the women picked to attend Ignite7 is Sydnee Wilkins of Nelson, currently studying at Massey University in Palmerston North for a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science. She has excelled in a number of sports – among them touch, athletics and swimming.
At secondary school level she was a member of the winning Motueka High School 4x400m relay team at national meets in 2014 and 2015; in touch she was good enough to make it to the New Zealand development camp.
But rugby is her first love; she has been playing it since she was five: "I enjoy athletics, but love rugby more. I play 15s too (usually as a fullback), but I probably prefer sevens (where she plays in the centres) because it is faster and there is more space."
Wilkins says she is both excited and nervous about the camp, seeing it as a big step towards her goal of one day playing for the Black Ferns Sevens.
The four men's and four women's teams will train together for three days before competing at the inaugural Red Bull Ignite7 tournament. From this, the three men and three women will be picked to go to the national camps.
Others to watch are Levi Couch, a member of the Northland Mitre 10 Cup squad in 2016 and still in their high performance squad and Amy du Plessis, who scored for Otago Spirit in her Farah Palmer Cup debut in September and who boasts netball as a sporting skill as well as being included in the New Zealand U17 & U18 Girls' Sevens wider training group.