All Blacks midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown jokes he's a reformed rugby player, as he eyes a return to the test side to face Australia in Saturday's Bledisloe Cup opener at Melbourne.
Lienert-Brown copped a three-week ban for a dangerous tackle and red card early in the Chiefs' Super Rugby Pacific final showdown against the Crusaders last month, jeopardising his Rugby Championship and World Cup ambitions.
After undergoing World Rugby's coaching intervention programme - the game's equivalent of a defensive driving course - he has had a week cut off his punishment, making him available for selection for the All Blacks' final championship fixture.
"I feel like a new man… like I can tackle again," grinned Lienert-Brown.
With eyebrow-raising displays in the opening two victories over Argentina and South Africa, Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane's appear to have mortgages on the midfield spots for the World Cup.
Test-match minutes are now vital for Lienert-Brown, who seems likely to get the green light from coach Ian Foster at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as the selectors take one of the few opportunities available before the World Cup kicks off in early September.
Add to that mix Braydon Ennor's excellent impact off the bench and rookie Dallas McLeod awaiting his chance, and competition in the midfield has become fierce - a reality Lienert-Brown has no issues with.
"[The competition] is healthy," he said. "That's what the All Blacks jersey demands, is that every position is fought for.
"Credit to Jordie and Rieko, they've done an extremely good job and Braydon has been awesome off the bench. It's what this environment needs."
Given the ongoing injury issues that curtailed his test campaign last year, then nine Super Rugby games early last season, Lienert-Brown admits the past 18 months have been testing.
"I'm human and there have been times I've been frustrated," he said. "You've just got to quickly get over it, move on and focus week by week.
"When you are not playing, you've got to focus on getting better and getting fitter."
One of the silver linings of Lienert-Brown's recent predicament is being able to train fulltime - both at second-five and centre - without fretting over or compensating for injuries. He's been able to take the last month to work his way back to the full fitness that has avoided him for the best part of two years.
He's also worked closely with All Blacks great Conrad Smith, who's been with the team this week to share advice on his area of expertise for a very eager audience in a coaching cameo at Mt Smart.
Smith won two World Cups as part of an iconic tandem with second-five Ma'a Nonu in 2011 and 2015, before stepping away from test rugby and opening the door for Lienert-Brown as his successor.
"It's awesome to have a legend like him in the group," Lienert-Brown noted. "He doesn't say a lot, but I think when he does say something, it's pretty special and obviously the [midfielders] take that on board.
"Just having his presence around the group is massive."
With the Rugby Championship as good as locked away, the All Blacks will square off with a Wallabies team at the opposite side of the form spectrum. They're currently winless under new coach Eddie Jones and are searching desperately for some positives to take to France.
Last time the two sides met at Melbourne last year, the match ended in infamy. With the Aussies only needing to find touch from a penalty to end the game and clinch victory, French referee Mathieu Raynal pinged Bernard Foley for time-wasting.
The All Blacks scored from the ensuing scrum to steal the win and Lienert-Brown is certain Australia will use the incident as fuel for their fire this weekend.
"They'll talk about that a lot," he said. "When they play us, they go up another level, and with Eddie Jones at the helm now, they'll definitely have a few tricks up their sleeve.
"They would have stewed on a disappointing couple of weeks for them and they wouldn't have been sitting comfy in their week off. We know that they'll bring their 'A' game."
Which is precisely what Lienert-Brown concedes he'll need to do, if he's to force his way back into a crammed All Blacks midfield.
"There's 36 players, but only 23 get to play. Every week there's 13 guys itching to get out there, but we wouldn't have it any other way
"I don't think you'd be in here, if you didn't have the hunger and desire inside yourself."
The All Blacks depart for Melbourne on Thursday afternoon.
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