For a young man whose world was literally and metaphorically crumbling around him two years ago an extraordinary reversal of fortune was completed yesterday.

While Richie Gray and Stuart Hogg have been considered, throughout this season, the two young Scots most likely to tour Australia with the British & Irish Lions, only a handful of people were even aware that Sean Maitland was eligible to make the trip.

Indeed, when the then 16-year-old was watching the Lions play in 2005 there was not the slightest doubt that his allegiance lay firmly with his future Canterbury Crusaders team-mates Dan Carter and Richie McCaw, who were spearheading the All Black destruction of Clive Woodward's best-laid plans.

Then a member of the New Zealand Schools team, he would go on to win World Cups with their under-19 and under-20 teams in 2007 and 2008, but his smooth route to stardom was horribly interrupted on and off the field in the build-up to the full World Cup in 2011.

In spite of a devastating earthquake having shaken the city that the Hamilton-born grandson of Glaswegian emigrants had come to call home shortly before it began, he had finished the 2011 Super Rugby season as the tournament's joint top try scorer but was left out of the All Blacks World Cup squad.

He was still uncapped after the 2012 campaign when Sean Lineen, the son of an All Black who is often described as "the original kilted Kiwi", came calling during his first major trip in his new job of scouring the globe to identify Scottish talent.

It was a life-changing moment as Maitland seized the opportunity provided by his heritage, heading for Glasgow and rapidly become a hugely popular figure with team-mates and supporters.

"Obviously the tragedy of the earthquake in 2011 was quite devastating and a lot of people lost their lives, so as a franchise we didn't have a home, our stadium was destroyed, so there's been a few ups and downs in the last couple of years in my career," he said.

"However, as one door closes another one opens and coming over here I've set some new goals for myself. One was to represent Scotland and it happened in a Lions year and the stars aligned. As Hoggy said, though, it's just the beginning and us three want to represent our clubs, our country, Scotland and our families most of all, so we'll be pushing to get into that Test team."

Related to All Black great Joe Stanley, he also now faces the prospect of coming up against his older cousin Quade Cooper, the controversy-stalked Wallaby play-maker who was also born in New Zealand but is a naturalised Australian, should both make their respective Test sides.

"Hopefully, he [Quade] sorts it out and gets his name in the Wallabies," he said. "He's having a great season and he's a class player, so I'm sure Robbie [Deans, the Wallabies coach] won't leave him out."