TJ Perenara has been called into the All Blacks squad as part of a "pre-determined plan" and while coach Ian Foster is happy with the way his side are "building" he believes they're yet to hit their peak.
TJ Perenara is back with the All Blacks. Photo: AAP / Photosport
Halfback Perenara joins the team for the first time in a year ahead of next Monday morning's test against Scotland at Murrayfield, with fellow No.9 Brad Weber and midfielder come wing Leicester Fainga'anuku both released to the All Blacks XV final match of their tour against the Barbarians at Twickenham.
Foster will pick between Perenara, Finlay Christie and Aaron Smith for his two halfbacks for the game in Edinburgh.
Foster said he had wanted to rotate Weber and Perenara in the final three end of year tour tests following the season ending injury to Folau Fakatava.
"That was a predetermined plan to give both those nines a couple of weeks with us after Folau's injury."
Midfielders Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Braydon Ennor are back with the All Blacks this week after starting for the second tier All Blacks XV in last Saturday's win over Ireland A in Dublin.
The pair re-join the All Blacks after being released following their starts in last month's 38-21 win over Japan in Tokyo.
All Blacks "building"
Foster now concedes his team "weren't ready for" the July series against Ireland, which the Irish famously won. But, following the comprehensive victory over Wales last weekend, the All Blacks fifth win on the trot, Foster is confident the team is moving in the right direction.
"We took some pretty tough lessons early on. We weren't ready physically or mentally after Super Rugby for that Irish series, and we were well beaten. That's been pretty well documented.
"Since then, there were a few players we held back from that series who have come in and made a big difference and I think there have been some nice building blocks with the future in mind.
"We're still building. We're not there yet. We've been tagged with inconsistency but that's five [wins] in a row, so we're starting to build what we want to build."
Foster re-iterated the old adage that rugby games are won and lost in the forwards.
"In the last 3-4 years it's been stated that's been a softer belly of our game. We've worked hard in that space. We want to impose ourselves physically through our forwards, and I loved the patience of the leadership on the park to say, 'well, it's working and let's keep going".
The All Blacks next assignment is against Scotland and Foster is likely to make some changes from the team that beat Wales as he and his assistant coaches try to manage player workload without sacrificing consistency, something the All Blacks have struggled with this year.
"We've got an eight-day turnaround to Scotland. A lot of our guys haven't been there for a long time, and some haven't played at Murrayfield, so it's going to be a new experience in many ways. We'll get excited about that in a couple of days."