Malakai Fekitoa: World Rugby's Emerging Star of 2014

Among the swarm of budding superstars to have made their breakthroughs in 2014, New Zealand up-and-comer Malakai Fekitoa made bigger strides than any other.

When we speak of emerging stars, we're not speaking exclusively of younger stars, either—although Fekitoa is still a babe at just 22—but of players who came out of the wilderness and showed an entirely new quality.

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Considering we are of the understanding that New Zealand are the best team in the world at present, the centre star did an amazing job this year in escaping the restrictions placed ahead of him to win his first caps for the All Blacks.

After failing to make an appearance for the Blues in 2013, Fekitoa moved to the Highlanders for the 2014 season and the rest, as they say, is history. Speaking on his departure from Auckland, per 3News, the back said: 

"

It means everything to me [New Zealand selection]. It's massive I don't know how to explain it, but I cried when I heard about it. It was hard to leave and I thought that was going to be it for me. I just started training hard and started talking to the coaches about how they could help me. It's worked out in the end.

"

"Worked out" is putting it mildly. John Kirwan may have failed to see or make use of the talent who lay among his ranks, but Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph made no such mistake and was rewarded for his faith in 2014.

As OptaJason illustrated, Fekitoa's 2014 season statistics in terms of defenders beaten show his knack for spotting the gaps in defence, an enigmatic trait of his which was allowed to prosper over the past 12 months:

Highlanders attack coach Tony Brown has undoubtedly also lent a hand in seeing to it that Fekitoa thrives around a setup that works around him in aspects, developing fine understandings with the likes of Ben Smith and Lima Sopoaga.

Nowhere has the centre's potential for flash-in-the-pan brilliance been showcased better than in his try against the Sharks this season, which bagged him the Sky Sport NZ Fans' Try of the Year award:

Those kind of one-man demolition displays led to Steve Hansen taking notice, and Fekitoa has since deservedly been handed his first steps as an All Black, a journey that's assuredly only just begun.

At 22, the utility centre may yet have another decade at the top and throughout the course of his Rugby Championship, he showed an ability to line up at No. 12 or No. 13 without unsettling the team's rhythm.

It's as admirable for the confidence and courage shown by Fekitoa as it is the quality he puts out.

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To step into the shoes of Conrad Smith or an injured Ma'a Nonu is no small task and yet he undertook the responsibility like a true professional and now has eight Test caps to his name, six of which have been starts.

The return of Sonny Bill Williams to union makes for an interesting 2015 in Hansen's midfield. Williams was a more prominent figure on the All Blacks' autumn tour but another impressive campaign for Fekitoa may yet see him gain favour.

However, the Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher is backing Fekitoa to be the man handed New Zealand's centre reins come the 2015 Rugby World Cup:

Between his work on the club and international stage, no player made more meteoric a surge through rugby's ranks than Fekitoa, going from relative Super Rugby unknown to potential Smith/Nonu successor in nine months.

The most promising aspect of the playmaker's rise is that the best is surely yet to come, too. Given the quality of tutors around him and the startling promise with which he's started, the foundation is there for a long, glittering career.