Liam Messam's confident he'll be back on the field sooner rather than later, after being ruled out of this weekend's World Series sevens tournament in Wellington.
The 31-year-old arrived at the All Blacks Sevens camp with a calf injury following a stint in Japan, and he's been doing his best to keep up with the young talent in the squad.
"I went to the gym today with the young boys and they were straight into the gym doing their weights, it took me half an hour to warm up and do my rehab before I could start the gym so I wish I was 18 again," Messam joked.
Messam, who could make a return for the sixth leg of the series in Vancouver mid-March, said he had forgotten how tough coach Gordon Tietjens pushed the team.
"It's getting back to Tietjens trainings and getting back to some good old 80-60-40s which I haven't done since last time I played Sevens.
"I did forget about Tietjen's eating routine. I had a bit of pork on my plate a couple of months ago and I think the young boys were too scared to tell me to take it off my plate.
"I didn't tell him and made sure to wipe my mouth so he couldn't see any evidence on my lips."
3 News / RadioLIVE