If the Blues were concerned prized recruit Beauden Barrett might take some time to settle back into training they needn't have worried, certainly if his first day back on the job was any measure.
Barrett on Monday broke the franchise's "Bronco" fitness record, the effort made even more astounding by the fact that Barrett was still to lace the boots up for his new franchise before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he had clearly put New Zealand's nationwide lockdown to good use, as he powered through the brutal fitness test in record time.
Barrett was part of the "backs bubble" that returned to the team's Auckland training base on Monday ahead of the kick-off of Super Rugby Aotearoa on June 13. As well as the two-time World Rugby Player of the Year's new Bronco record of 4 minutes 12 seconds, the franchise also reported eight further personal bests.
"A PB, mate, always happy with a PB," a puffing Barrett quipped immediately after finishing. "I don't know how much kicking I'll be doing after this, though."
The Bronco test is a 1200m shuttle involving running to-and-from a start line to 20, 40 and 60-m marks, five times without a break.
Players had earlier had their temperatures taken on arrival at training and continued to social distance throughout the session as New Zealand continues to implement strict Level 2 protocols.
Barrett joined the Blues after an extended break following last year's Rugby World Cup and was back training before the coronavirus pandemic forced the suspension of the Super Rugby season. He had been targeting a club debut against his brother, Jordie, and former team the Hurricanes at Eden Park on April 11.
Our 'Backs Bubble' came in this morning to tear up the Bronco fitness test.
— The Blues (@BluesRugbyTeam) May 18, 2020
8 PB's were set including a new club record 🔥🔥🔥#BluesAllDay #BlueEverywhere pic.twitter.com/m7suEg0L5w
But he is now likely to fulfill that dream Blues debut anyway after they were drawn to meet the Hurricanes in the first round of Super Rugby Aotearoa.
The Blues had planned to deploy Barrett at fly-half but such had been the success of the dual-playmaker partnership of Otere Black and Stephen Perofeta before the onset of the pandemic, coach Leon MacDonald now has a pleasant selection headache to deliberate.
"Otere led the ship really well and Stevie has shown his versatility and skill at fullback as well," MacDonald told stuff.co.nz over the weekend. "It's a good place to be to have to make tough decisions and [Black] has shown he's a world-class 10 as well. We're very fortunate with our depth there.
"But you can have depth one day, then no numbers the next. We haven't sat round as a coaching group to nut out what week one looks like ... those discussions will be had soon and they're going to be tough ones."
New Zealand's domestic Super Rugby competition will feature the nation's five franchises in a 10-week home-and-away competition. The tournament leader after 10 rounds will be declared the champion.