Rush played in more than 60 tournaments, with the highlights being two Commonwealth Games gold medals and the World Cup Sevens victory in 2001.

Lomu played a major role in the 2001 World Cup Sevens win, effectively filling in for Rush, who suffered a broken leg in New Zealand's last group match of that tournament.

Born in Kaeo on 11 February 1965, Rush was educated at Tangaroa College in the Auckland suburb of Ōtara.

In later years, he was converted into a forward in the sevens version, with the wing position given to his understudy Karl Te Nana.

Despite that, his metabolic age was 40 as a 58-year-old, the oldest member of the playing squad, and was by far the fittest player in the team.