Williams back fresh and ready

Sonny Bill Williams says his recent stint with Counties Manukau has freshened him up mentally and physically for Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup showdown at Eden Park.

The midfielder looks set to return to the All Blacks team for the biggest rugby game on New Zealand soil since the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour.

Williams, who missed a large chunk of this season with the Blues through injuries, has played provincial rugby the past two weeks and said yesterday his time with the Steelers helped him take a fresh approach to the game.

‘‘It showed me the gratitude and fun aspect,’’ Williams, 34, said. ‘‘When you come into an environment like this [All Blacks], there’s a lot of pressure and it’s high stakes footy.

‘‘But being able to go back there and enjoy being around the boys, running out there, playing with your mates, that’s one of the biggest things I took from my stint at Counties.’’

Williams will be going into Saturday’s test not feeling bogged down by the pressure and he hopes his team-mates won’t be like that either.

‘‘Obviously the boys are hurting from the weekend,’’ he said of the All Blacks’ 47-26 loss in Perth.

‘‘But we can’t walk around with our heads looking at the ground all of the time, we’ve got to perk ourselves up and smile.

‘‘For myself naturally, that’s what I’m about.’’

Williams said a spell playing provincial rugby could work for other All Blacks, as a way of releasing the constant pressure they face in every game for their Super Rugby team or their country.

‘‘It depends on the individual, whether they need it or not,’’ he said.

All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster said it was nice to have a fit and revitalised Williams back in the mix for this weekend’s test.

‘‘It’s good to have him back but it’s only good having him back because he’s now had some good minutes under his belt,’’ Foster said.

‘‘We gave him some time against South Africa, we were OK with what he did on the park, but just felt he needed more gametime.

‘‘That’s something we’ve done regularly and think it’s been good for him to go back.

‘‘You look at his running metres from the game with Counties they were huge, so he worked really hard.

‘‘His own confidence has grown I think because that’s what a bit of time in the saddle does, it’s so good to have him back into contention.’’

For Saturday night’s test, Williams is being called by some sections of the Australian media as the All Blacks’ Bledisloe Cup saviour.

However, that’s not how he sees things and suggested it says more about the state of rugby in Australia than it does about himself.

‘‘If you look into that, you’ll understand that rugby doesn’t get much coverage in Australia, there aren’t many viewers, they don’t watch too much rugby,’’ he said.

‘‘So there’s that affiliation with me and rugby league, over here we weigh it up and know that’s not the truth.

‘‘But for the average Joe Blow person over there that picks up a paper, that’s something to read about.’’