The All Blacks' preparations for this weekend's Test against France have gone up a notch today, with a gruelling session of powerlifting.
Three players working exceptionally hard were loose forwards Ardie Savea, Sam Cane and Vaea Fifita, who after a light warm up got stuck into big lifts, ahead of Sunday morning's game.
The trio could all play in some sort of capacity with veteran loose forward Jerome Kaino likely to miss the rest of the tour with a knee injury.
After bursting onto the international scene this year with a spectacular try at home to Argentina in June, he made a couple of sharp breaks when starting against the Barbarians last Sunday.
However, it wasn't that which stood out most to All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster.
"His contribution around the park in the detail side was really good," Foster said.
"Clearly he's stepping up and learning a lot. The physicality side was good.
"If he does get another chance, it's going to be the biggest one of his career. I'm sure he's going to be nervous about that but he's more than capable."
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