All Blacks captain Ardie Savea has revealed the challenges around being away from home and family, as the side face an extended road trip to end their 2021 season.
While Saturday's second test against South Africa on the Gold Coast represents the end of their Rugby Championship campaign, it will only mark the halfway point of an extended end-of-year tour.
After the five tests played over in Australia, the All Blacks will head to the northern hemisphere to face USA Eagles, and then onto Europe to take on Wales, Italy, Ireland and France.
All up, 76 days will have passed from the All Blacks' first test of the tour against Australia in Perth and the last against France in Paris.
And when travel and managed isolation quarantine (MIQ) are factored into the equation, the All Blacks will spend close to three months on the road, living out of suitcases.
With many of the team having families and young children, three months away is a big ask. Savea is no exception, with a wife and two children at home.
On top of that, Savea has also been the All Blacks captain during their Australian tour, leading his country for the first time.
Speaking before the All Blacks' Friday captain's run, Savea admitted the toll that his duties have taken on him, but insists that the team are in a good space as a unit.
"Right now, I'd say there's times where it's hard," Savea says. "You talk to the kids and stuff like that, where it's difficult.
"The good thing about rugby is that you're always busy training and stuff like that. I think the team's in a good place at the moment.
"We've got one more [test] this weekend to hopefully finish well, and then have a break and go on to the end-of-year tour.
"The team's in a good place, but myself personally, [I'm] just trucking along. I have those tough hard moments where you miss the family, but you've just got to push through."
The All Blacks' biggest off-field challenge will come during the 22 days between facing South Africa on Saturday and then USA in Washington on October 24.
And with no rugby or training to distract them, Savea says that the time away from the game will be important for the side to decompress, after a Rugby Championship-winning campaign.
"Everyone's different in our team. We've actually got two weeks off - the first week we're just letting the boys get away from rugby, switch off fully and decompress that way.
"The second week we've got a training camp together, so it's just all around switching off, and the boys doing what they need to do to physically and mentally refresh."
Join Newshub for live updates of the All Blacks v South Africa Rugby Championship clash from 11pm Saturday.
