Ian Foster has vowed to give barely-used Blues star Stephen Perofeta more All Blacks caps on this year's end-of-year tour after struggling for game time in the black jersey in his rookie season.
Perofeta earned his selection earlier this year after a standout campaign with the Blues but the 25-year-old has had to bide his time on the sidelines as a squad member, going unused in the Test series loss to Ireland before his infamous 50-second debut in the All Blacks' loss to Argentina in Christchurch.
After earning his first cap, Perofeta then fell back to the non-playing reserves for the remainder of the Rugby Championship.
That led to some time back in the NPC with Taranaki which Foster said only reaffirmed his thoughts on Perofeta.
"He's had 2-3 games back for Taranaki and that's been good for him. It's kept him in tune, but he's a player with a big future.
"We really feel like we owe Stephen an opportunity to show what he's learned."
With that in mind, Foster has paid back Perofeta's trust with selection in this year's Northern Tour while fellow fullback/first-five option Damian McKenzie - back from his stint in Japan and looking to add to his 40 Test caps - has been named in the All Blacks XV team for their two-match tour.
Foster said Perofeta's selection reflected the unseen work he's put in this year.
"Part of being in a team is that you don't always get the opportunities for everyone," he said.
"Certainly with Stephen, we think he's grown immensely through the last 4-5 months. We loved the way he's gone about his work."
Foster added the All Blacks' first Test of the tour against Japan could be the perfect place to get him some decent minutes.
"The fact he hasn't really got an opportunity was probably not a lot to do with him. Some of those early results put us under pressure to keep the combinations growing.
"You'll see his name pop up in the next Test and we'll try to give him another opportunity on tour."
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