Ardie Savea has returned to New Zealand's rugby fields — in the nick of time for Monday's All Blacks squad announcement.
Back from his season playing in Japan for the Kobelco Kobe Steelers, Savea played 50 minutes for Oriental Rongotai today scoring two tries in their Swindale Shield fixture against Wellington at Hataitai Park.
"First 10 minutes, I was blowing," he said afterwards.
"Good to get footy in me. I haven't played since the Kobe season... nice to come down to my club and get some footy."
"I'm feeling refreshed and ready to go, hopefully the lungs are good."
Ahead of Scott Robertson's first All Blacks squad announcement, Savea said he hadn't spoken with the new All Blacks coach yet.
"I'm just crossing my fingers and I'll wait for the news. I'm not going to overthink it. I'll go about my day and see if I do make it."
The World Rugby player of the year is highly likely to be named on Monday, although whether he's selected as the new All Blacks captain to replace Sam Cane is another matter.
"I haven't really thought about it. I've been away in Japan and, first of all, I just want to make the team.
"There's some quality loose forwards at the moment in New Zealand — anything else, I'll worry about that later," said Savea.
He says he has plenty to occupy himself with and won't be waiting by the phone come Monday.
"Take the kids to school; the wife for a coffee; my daughter has dance on Mondays, so I'll go to that too," said a smiling Savea.
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