Declan O'Donnell may prove sensation | Bay of Plenty Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Bay of Plenty

It's a big call - no, make that a huge call - and one Gordon Tietjens realises will raise a few eyebrows in the rugby fraternity.

But the New Zealand sevens guru, who last night jetted off to the next round of the IRB world series in Las Vegas, doesn't just see "exceptional sevens exponent" when he sits sideline, watching tryscoring sensation Declan O'Donnell in full flight.

O'Donnell possesses pace, size, balance and a gravity-defying sidestep, and Tietjens has no doubt he is set to be a star on the sevens circuit, if he isn't already after lighting up the weekend's Wellington tournament.

Tietjens doesn't hesitate in comparing the Paeroa-born Hamiltonian to two legends of the XV-a-side game in the two short months he has had with the 20-year-old.

"It's a huge call, I know, but Declan's got some traits of Christian Cullen - fast feet, ability to glide and step at pace - and one-on-one you just know he's going to beat the guy.

"The more I see of him, he's got a bit of Frank Bunce in him as well. I see him as a true centre, a potentially great centre, unbelievably strong defensively and a bit of mongrel thrown into the mix."

Plenty of players tip the scales at 90kg+ and just as many harbour out-and-out pace, but in O'Donnell, he of the cocky rat's tail in his short ginger hair, Tietjens thinks he's unearthed something special, a lethal weapon.

O'Donnell was a virtual unknown before Wellington. Ten tries there, including a hat trick against England in the final, and the mystery man is no more.

In typical Tietjens mode, always on the hunt for the next big thing, he plucked O'Donnell from obscurity after driving over the Kaimai Range last November to watch a low-key Te Rapa club tournament.

O'Donnell's reputation in Waikato club rugby was as a player who mixed the odd sensational move with plenty of mediocre, making and then getting axed from Waikato's pre-season squad.

"I saw him at Te Rapa and only went over because I'd lost quite a few players from my squad last year. I brought Declan into the squad to have a look at him and learn a little bit more about the kid."

Tietjens took O'Donnell to the Gold Coast as part of an emerging players side but almost put a line permanently through his name after the rough edges in his game cost him a couple of stints on the sideline.

"A lot of the big grids and skills sets we did you could see he was quite special, but he got a couple of yellow cards on the Gold Coast, tackling without arms and those sorts of things, and I pulled him aside and told him I couldn't afford to play him in a world series tournament if he was going to keep getting sent off. He's fined off the rough edges and has got the pace, the step and just glides, as well as being very, very strong."

O'Donnell, who went to the opening two world series tournaments in Dubai and South Africa, got his second, and last, Tietjens heart-to-heart during last month's national sevens in Queenstown.

"It was quite obvious he wasn't performing to the best of his ability down there. Because he did so well for us (in South Africa) he felt like he could pull on the Waikato jersey and beat most of the guys playing at 80 or 85 per cent.

"I was so concerned after watching him on day one I went to his team hotel, sat him down for an hour and really put it on him. He'd lost the ball in contact six times, just by being too relaxed or looking for offloads that weren't on, and I told him I wanted a big second day. That's the last time I saw him lose the ball in contact."

O'Donnell isn't Tietjens' only flavour of the week, with Bay of Plenty's Solomon King earning huge plaudits, especially for his effort in the final when he came on for injured captain DJ Forbes minutes into the game.

"Solly was outstanding, coming on and having a huge impact, back on song and back on form.

"He came out of that with a huge amount of confidence after a tough time with injury. It was the Solly I knew from two years ago and he's back on song."