The goalscoring hero of the All Whites' World Cup 2010 qualifying play-off victory over Bahrain last November, Fallon is now looking to make an impact on the biggest stage of all.

The tall striker only became available to New Zealand a year ago after a change in the FIFA rules on switching national allegiances. Since then, he has become an important attacking option for Ricki Herbert and he certainly caused Nemanja Vidic problems in the recent friendly victory over Serbia.

Fallon was born to English footballing stock in Gisborne, on the North Island coast, in March 1982 - a few months later, his father Kevin would be an assistant coach with the All Whites in their first World Cup finals appearance.

However, the family returned to the UK when Rory was a teenager and he became a trainee at Barnsley (where he was part of the Kiwi 'Band of Brothers' alongside Leo Bertos, Jeremy Christie and Dave Mulligan) and featured for the England Under-17 team.

For various reasons, Fallon failed to deliver on his early promise and after fading out of the England youth scene, he eventually moved on to Swindon, Swansea and in 2007, Plymouth Argyle.

At each club, the 6ft 2in target man has struggled to find much consistency and he fell out of favour with then Pilgrims boss Paul Mariner towards the end of the 2009/10 season, despite his international exploits and the Championship club's relegation plight.

Yet Fallon is a confident character (a devout Christian, he draws on his faith for inspiration) and with cult hero status already assured in New Zealand, he could feel relaxed enough to shine in South Africa.