Sonny Bill Williams received a "big tick" for his successful return from injury in the All Blacks' clash with the Springboks but coach Steve Hansen hopes giving him time in the domestic scene will help get him back up and running.
Williams has struggled for playing time this year with numerous injuries stopping him from appearing for both the Blues and All Blacks but the veteran midfielder came away unscarred from a physical 16-all draw with South Africa on Saturday.
"We've got a lot of respect for Sonny's playing ability, obviously," Hansen said.
"We know he can play at this level - the unfortunate thing is he hasn't played much and we wanted to see him on Saturday be able to cope with the rigors of Test football which he did so that's a big tick.
"But to judge him at the very highest level when he's had no football is not fair."
As a result, Hansen has retained him in the All Blacks 34-man Bledisloe squad this morning but said Williams will spend the next few weeks with Counties Manukau playing pre-season games for them while the All Blacks head to Perth to face the Wallabies.
"What we've asked him to do is now go play a couple of games for Counties which will give him three games in three weeks."
Hansen said he wanted Williams playing as many minutes as possible but would leave the amounts up to the Counties coaching staff.
After his domestic stint, Williams will then rejoin the All Blacks when they return for the second Bledisloe Test in Auckland.
"If he was to play there, that would be four games in four weeks."
Hansen said, barring no injuries, that would mean Williams would have enough playing time under his belt to be judged fairly for the final selections.
"Each and every one of them deserves that, including Sonny."
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