KEY POINTS:
Brendon Leonard has a copy of Pele's book, given to him by his sister. He intends to spend a bit of time by the pool reading it but confesses he has read only one page so far.
"It's a good first page," he laughs.
The thought of Leonard
reading Pele is oddly appealing. Both had meteoric rises to make their first World Cups. Pele went on to become, by most people's reckoning, if not the greatest footballer of all time, then second. Leonard, well, let's hold the phone on that one until he's at least established as the No 1 halfback in the country.
"It's something my sister brought over from London," Leonard said of the book. "He probably is [a hero of mine] when you think about where he's come from and what he's achieved."
Pele was raised in a poor part of Sao Paulo where he learned football from his father using a sock stuffed with newspaper. He was discovered by Santos football club at 15 and was playing for the national team at 16. A year later, 1958, he won the World Cup with Brazil, scoring a wonder goal in the final against hosts Sweden.
Leonard's story would not translate quite so well to the silver screen, but it is not without dramatic appeal.
Morrinsville born and raised, Leonard, 22, had not played a Super 14 game until this year.
Three months later he was in the All Blacks squad with Graham Henry labelling him the "best attacking halfback" in the country. Just nine months after his first Super 14 game he has the opportunity to be part of the first New Zealand side to win a World Cup since 1987.
His fledgling All Black career hasn't been without its problems. There's a table tennis table at Le Pigonnet - the All Blacks' base in Aix-en-Provence - and "I enjoy it but I don't think I've won since I've been on tour".
Aside from that, it's been an astonishing rise for a guy who was third-string Waikato halfback not much more than a year ago.
He won his first start last week against Portugal and will start off the bench against Scotland overnight, a role in which he is still possibly more comfortable as his quick breaks can take advantage of tiring defences.
"It's all happened pretty quickly but I try not to think about it too much," he says. "I've had a couple of lucky breaks."
Yes, it took Byron Kelleher to have his nose spread across his face while playing for the Chiefs for the public to see Leonard was the real deal. For the long-term future, it might have been the most fortuitous re-assembling of somebody's looks New Zealand rugby has seen.
Leonard didn't feel secure at Super 14 level until the Chiefs started getting a roll on, about the time the Force came to Hamilton and were thrashed, then eventual finalists Sharks were turned over as well.
"I started to feel a bit more comfortable then," he said.
Rapid elevation can tend to cause vertigo. Not in Leonard's case.
"I'm a pretty relaxed sort of character. I don't worry too much about this, that and the other.
"I've got to enjoy it; this is the best team you can be in the world and it's happened now so I have to make sure I don't let it pass me by."
With Kelleher moving to Stade Toulousain next season, Leonard has an opportunity to lock down a long-term future with the All Blacks.
"There's a hole here in the No 9 jersey at the end of the year and this World Cup is a chance for me to put my hand up to fill it."
He didn't make a watertight case against Portugal with a couple of ropey passes, but that was counterbalanced by a nice poacher's try and a typically busy effort. "I don't want to be a one-year wonder, in this year, out the next. I want a long-term career in the All Blacks."
If that happens, 30-odd years from now, a novice All Black might find himself lying beside the pool reading a book on Brendon Leonard. It might not be the bestseller that Pele's is, but a decent read all the same.
