​It was the play that sent a stadium into a frenzy, got his teammates fired up and left poor old Lowell Rose looking for a rock to hide under.

It was the type of play that would have been shown in State of Origin highlight reels. A play in the NFL that is regularly met with fist-pumping, high-fiving and helmet smashing.

But from Hayne, the shoulder block on the San Diego Chargers cornerback was met with little, if any, excitement.

There was no standing over your opposite man in a show of strength. He just trudged back to the centre of Levi's Stadium and played on like the rookie he is.

It was a fair reflection of Hayne's mentality, one that has guided him to the position he is in on the eve of the final cut - that whole, "respect is earnt not given" stuff.

For Hayne, the exciting part of flattening his opposition, which was referred to by the NFL as "turning defenders into pancakes", was that he was finally getting the hang of this American football thing.

"Get low", he heard all off-season. It might as well have been the soundtrack to his summer at the 49ers.

But on Thursday night, that advice finally sunk in and Hayne began to feel comfortable in shoulder pads for the first time since turning in the short shorts for tights.

"Our coaches are always about lowering your shoulders, you know, getting ready for contact," Hayne said. "So it was just a situation that, like I said, all that training, all the hours on the field, to finally see it come together ... you know, technique and just working every week about lowering my pads and playing through someone. To understand it tonight and really lower my pads, it was exciting."

The hit went viral instantly. The NFL posted video of Hayne monstering his opposition, saying: "That's just former Rugby League star @jarrydhayne_1, turning NFL defenders into pancakes. #SDvsSF".

Oh. That's just former Rugby League star @jarrydhayne_1, turning NFL defenders into pancakes. #SDvsSF http://t.co/sObSmoGhX9— NFL (@NFL) September 4, 2015

His coach, Jim Tomsula, was reluctant to embarrass the opposition team but paid tribute to his running back's toughness after the match.

"I'm not going to disrespect any other player, but I will tell you that I think Jarryd is a tough guy".

San Francisco 49ers chief operating officer Al Guido said: "It's really impressive ... The best analogy I can give it is that he's like Michael Jordan ... the best in his sport, taking on another sport.

"Jarryd laying that guy out on the 45 was impressive."

Hayne also showed off his defensive skills on special teams, pulling off a copybook bootlace tackle that would have brought a smile to the faces of those rugby league purists.

"That was my first time at gunner," Hayne said. "I haven't had too many reps at gunner so I wasn't quite sure what to do. I jst didn't want him to beat me and as soon as he tried to go around me instincts took over."

Wide receiver Quinton Patton said: "Jarryd is Jarryd. He brings a lot of excitement, a lot of toughness".

"When you play rugby you have to be a tough person because you don't have pads on or anything. Jarryd's just Jarryd. I can't put words around Jarryd. Jarryd's just an extremely good athlete, extremely good player, extremely good person. He belongs here."