Scott Barrett will play his first game of rugby in 10 months this Sunday, named to start for Taranaki against Hawke's Bay after back surgery wiped out his 2026 season.
It will be only the lock's second appearance for the Amber and Blacks, five years after his first.
The 32-year-old told 1News he had surgery about four months ago, a discectomy to treat a bulging disc that had been pressing on a nerve.
He said the injury "depowered my left side so I couldn't really run and do the things required for my job as a rugby player so yeah, it's nice to be in a position to pull on the jersey and represent Taranaki again."
Watch Scott Barrett’s Taranaki return live and free on TVNZ+ with kick-off from 5pm Sunday.
Barrett, who has played 89 Tests, last played for the All Blacks against Wales in the final match of 2025.
He then took a non-playing sabbatical during this year's Super Rugby competition.
The surgery kept him out for the end of the Crusaders' season and all six All Blacks Tests since, including the tour to South Africa.
Barrett had been All Blacks captain under Scott Robertson, and he said the coach's exit had weighed heavily on him.
"It was a challenging sort of 10 months, probably a challenging year to be honest, for me personally," he said.
"You have a close relationship with a head coach and when there's, the team isn't quite going that well and there's a change like that, you probably reflect a little bit personally as your role is skipper at the time."
When Dave Rennie took over, the All Blacks moved on from Barrett as captain and handed the role to Ardie Savea.
"There was several conversations with Dave and I think ultimately that he made the decision and that was a different direction with Ardie," he told 1News.
"I've had time to reflect and probably learn from that and ultimately put that behind me. If there's an opportunity to wear the black jersey again, I'll certainly give everything I've got for that team should that opportunity arise."
Barrett watched the South African series from the sidelines.
"It's interesting actually as a fan watching on, cheering the brothers on. I guess I probably felt like a lot of Kiwis, a little bit gutted that we lost the series," he said.
"A lot of areas to be proud of but certainly they exposed us and hurt us and the result was that."
He said he had spoken with All Blacks assistant coach Neil Barnes.
"He's certainly got a stone in his shoe at the moment that he's carrying around and looking to remove and a lot of that is around set piece and improving in that area."
With the first Bledisloe Cup test just over a fortnight away, Barrett said: "For me, I just need to get back playing rugby and doing that well."
"Hopefully put my hand up for selection, but my immediate focus is playing against Hawke's Bay this weekend.
"I'd like to play a couple of games, just having not played for over nine months, then get some match fitness and some confidence back into what I can do with ball in hand and without it, so I'm excited about that."
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