All Black Liam Squire is set to feature for provincial side Tasman on Friday for the first time in four-years.
Squire made himself unavailable for Steve Hansen’s All Blacks selection for the Rugby Championship as he said he wasn’t ready to play test rugby.
This came after he was left out of the Highlanders trip to South Africa where he stayed at home for “personal family issues”.
The 23-cap All Black has again been left out of Hansen’s squad for the All Blacks Bledisloe Cup games against the Wallabies but will hope to come off the bench for Tasman in their Mitre 10 Cup warm-up game.
It will be his first piece of action since the Highlanders 38-14 defeat to the Crusaders in the quarter-finals of the Super Rugby, in which he was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.
The 28-year-old will be joined in the matchday squad by fellow All Blacks David Havili and Wyatt Crockett as Tasman face Otago.
In Squire’s absence the likes of Shannon Frizell and Dalton Papalii have been battling for a place in the All Blacks squad that will head to this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Although it’s not certain, Squire appears to have given up on attempting to break into the All Blacks squad for that tournament but at least he will be returning to action in some capacity this weekend.
