Carving out a sporting career has its trials and tribulations, no matter what your age. Just ask 19-year-old Aidan Ross.

A month ago, the Te Puke prop's dream of pulling on the New Zealand Under-20 jersey were in tatters after missing out on the ‘Baby Blacks' side that won the Oceania Rugby Junior Championship in Australia.

NZ Under-20 and Te Puke prop Aidan Ross in action against the Chiefs Development at Blake Park this week. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Ross, and Te Puke teammate Dan Hollinshead, had progressed through a number of training camps in the last six months, only to be told they were surplus to requirements at the final hurdle.

But the allure of the Silver Fern always remained, and in a stroke of luck, Ross was recalled into the Italy-bound squad ahead of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship next month, becoming the Bay of Plenty's sole representative.

It's an achievement that tastes extra sweet given his initial disappointment.

'I guess I'd been through the disappointment of not making the initial squad to Australia,” says Ross.

'I never dropped the lip and even though that was gone, the next goal was ITM Cup, so I still had to train hard and be on my game.

'It wasn't good at the start, getting dropped, but looking back that's how sport works - going through the highs and then the lows. It all happened in a month for me, so it turned around pretty quickly.”

Told to focus on his scrummaging, Ross trained the house down for both club and the Chiefs franchise, drawing inspiration from Bay of Plenty products Troy Callender, Nathan Harris and Sam Cane – all of whom have pulled on the NZ U-20 jersey in recent years.

And after performing well for the Chiefs Development in Hong Kong against the Hurricanes Development, New Zealand Under-20 head coach Scott Robertson and assistant coaches Leon MacDonald and Tana Umaga couldn't look past the loosehead prop any longer.

It was a proud day for the Ross family when Aidan turned out for the Baby Blacks against his Chiefs Development teammates and close friends at Blake Park earlier this week.

'Mum and Dad were there,” he adds, 'and that was a real proud moment for me putting on that jersey for the first time. Having them there watching me do that was pretty cool.”

Heading into this year's World Cup, the NZ side will be eager to avenge last year's third placing and add to their success at the event having won four straight in 2008-2011.

Since then South Africa and England have shared the spoils.

But Ross is confident the side is well prepared to give it a good crack.

The NZ U-20 squad includes eight players from last year's team, bringing invaluable tournament experience to the 2015 campaign. A total of 10 players in the squad have also had either ITM Cup or Investec Super Rugby experience.

'We have done a lot of hard work this week,” admits Ross.

'The ultimate goal is to win the World Cup over there, so we just have to back our skillsets and hard work we've done.”

The World Rugby Under-20 Championship kicks off on Tuesday, June 2.