Veteran All Black Jerome Kaino has given some small insight into his life away from the field as he looks to play his first match in the black jersey since he left the team suddenly in August.
Kaino departed the All Blacks' camp in Sydney prior to their first Bledisloe Test in August when a report surfaced days before the match he had an affair with a former Australian model.
It saw the 34-year-old miss most of the Rugby Championship before he was named in the end-of-year tour.
Kaino said this morning these past few months have been the toughest of his professional career.
"Yeah I'd say so, but the team and coaches have been great in creating a positive distraction away from that," Kaino said.
"They've been helpful and supportive in that time. I'm still working through a lot of things but for me it's focusing on footy this week."
The 81-Test loose forward has been mentoring Liam Squire and Vaea Fifita since rejoining the team - a valuable role to help him find his groove again.
"It has been tough but I've been able to deal with that away from footy and the team. The rugby union has been great throughout that time.
"It's going to take a lot of time but I've been able to use rugby as an escape to focus on something else when I'm away from that. It's an on-going process."
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