Topsy Ojo's ability to cover serious distance at pace justified his family's decision to make a rushed journey from London to Auckland to witness the England wing's test rugby debut last night.
Ojo's tryscoring exploits against the All Blacks -- he touched down near the end of each half as England slumped to a 20-37 defeat -- at least gave his father Akin and brother Babs reason to smile amid the capacity crowd of 44,000.
"My brother has said from the start that if the day of my debut ever came around he would be there. And my dad has started getting into rugby since I have been at London Irish," Ojo said after becoming the latest Anglo-Nigerian to be capped by England.
"I'm happy with the performance, disappointed with the result."
Ojo, 22, became the first English wing to score a try against the All Blacks in New Zealand since Tom Beim scored in Dunedin a decade ago when he snatched a Daniel Carter pass bound for an unmarked Conrad Smith in the 38th minute.
He then set sail 85m down the right-hand touchline, outpacing Mils Muliaina, who had been in doubt before the game due to a hamstring injury.
Ojo just beat the All Blacks fullback to the corner to help narrow the halftime deficit to 13-23.
"I took the gamble (for the intercept) and luckily I had the angle to make the corner," he said.
Ojo was then starved of opportunities until seven minutes from fulltime when a skewed kick from fellow debutant Danny Care bounced his way as Sitiveni Sivivatu and Sione Lauaki got in a tangle.
"It was a slick kick from Danny," he said of the consolation try.
"The ball held up and I had the easy job."
Meanwhile, Ojo put a brave face on England's performance after a test they never looked like winning.
"We were happy with some areas of the game and we'll be looking to improve on it this week.
"The big thing is to cut the mistakes out," he said as the tourists eye the second test next Saturday in Christchurch.
Ojo almost matched the achievement of England's first Nigerian-raised player Chris Oti, who scored a hat-trick on debut against Ireland two decades ago.
Victor Obogu, Steve Ojomoh and Adedayo Adebayo are other players with Nigerian ancestry to have represented England.
