While the Blues and Chiefs are enjoying the Japanese winter and the Crusaders roam Britain and Ireland, the Hurricanes and Highlanders have prepared for the new Super Rugby season at home.
Both sides face each other tomorrow in their first pre-season hit out at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium.
New Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw told 1News there's advantages to be found in staying put as teams refine themselves for the season ahead.
"At the stage we are — new coaches, some new players — there's been some change," Laidlaw said.
"I think if you're well established like the Chiefs' coaching group, for example, I'm sure they quite enjoy getting on the road and changing up their preseason."
Laidlaw said with the Hurricanes' first two games of the season in Australia, it was important for players and staff to be home with family.
"I think it's something the Hurricanes will look to do in the future but for this year, we are on the road for two weeks at the start of the year," he said.
"To go away for two weeks, come home and then go away again, it's a tough start of the season for players around time away from home."
While they haven't enjoyed the wintry sights and sounds of the Nothern Hemisphere, instead the Canes have made the most of their world-class facilities at the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport (NZCIS).
Their home base in Upper Hutt includes an altitude-controlled room with temperature and humidity monitoring as well as hot and cold plunge pools, hydrotherapy pools, an infrared sauna, and cryotherapy chambers.
"We think the balance locking ourselves here in beautiful Upper Hutt and using the amazing facility here that we've got, we train in the heat with the heat chamber and prepare for the Western Force in Perth."
The Hurricanes will have their second and final pre-season game against Moana Pasifika next Friday at NZCIS.
It's in that game Laidlaw hopes to tentatively give TJ Perenara in his first minutes since injuring his Achilles heel in 2022 while playing for the All Blacks.
"He had two episodes that kept him out a lot longer than initially planned but holding him back is usually an issue most days with TJ, and even more so now he's back into the rugby," he said.
"But we've had a good conversation around his plan, what we think it looks like over the next three weeks.
"He thinks he'll change our mind over the next 10 days, but that gives you an indication of how good he's going."
It's likely the halfback won't feature in Super Rugby for the Canes until round three when they host the Blues on March 9.
"He's well on track around reintegrating fully but whether he's available for Australia will be a push.
"But we're really confident and he's really excited around where he's at, and by the time round three comes around, he'll be available post-Aussie hopefully."
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