KEY POINTS:
Former All Black Zinzan Brooke has woken for the first time since having brain surgery on Sunday and has spoken to his wife Alison.
The 42-year-old fractured his skull in the town of Elche, south of Valencia, where he was coaching the Barbarians.
Brooke later underwent emergency
surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain.
Alison, who is pregnant, told TVNZ today that Brooke was recovering after a few days of severe pain.
She said: "He has been saying to me 'the pain, the throbbing' and that has gone and I could see that he was instantly relieved.
"I mean he was in and out at that stage and...I was talking to him, I don't know that he was necessarily hearing, but then he picked up again.
"He's talking and communicating with me, which is fantastic."
His brother Robin told Newstalk ZB this morning: "He is not very up, but he is coherent for the first time in three or four days.
"It is only initial good signs but hopefully they are signs of his making a good recovery."
Barbarians press officer Alan Evans said late last night that Brooke and the players partied on Wednesday night after a victory.
The coach and two of the team returned to their hotel in a taxi early on Thursday morning. "It appears he fell over on the pavement outside the hotel and hit the back of his head."
The team doctor examined Brooke at the hotel and said he needed hospital treatment and wouldn't be fit to fly out with the rest of the management that morning.
His wife flew out to be with him and when he still complained of headaches on Sunday, hospital staff operated to relieve the pressure on his brain caused by a clot.
Robin, also a former All Black, told the Herald last night: "With head injuries they don't know [how the patient is] till you come out of them. I think the general line is wait and see.
"He was conscious and coherent but was in a lot of pain and then they decided to operate."
Robin said he would fly over to be at his brother's bedside if needed.
"A mate of mine is going from London to see him and then he will tell me whether I should shoot up or somebody else should come up.
"The fact of the matter is he's not awake and Alison is there doing all she can. We've just got to wait and see."
Robin said he had been speaking regularly to Mrs Brooke. "She's coping all right, but obviously it's pretty traumatic for her."
The couple have three children.
Robin said he and his brother had been dealing with injuries all their lives.
"But this is just more of a serious one. It's a hell of a blow and you don't like to see it happen to anyone but it's happened and it's how you deal with it here on in.
"He's getting pretty good care up there so we'll just wait and see."
Former All Black captain Gary Whetton said last night: "I think we are all just worried for him. We will just support everyone and see what happens from here."
Good mate and fellow Marist Auckland All Black Bernie McCahill described Brooke as a tough cookie.
"He's one of the toughest. He's a mongrel. He'll live to fight another day, I'm sure of that."
Brooke has lived for the past 10 years in England, where he's played and coached rugby.
He had an illustrious international career with the All Blacks, playing 58 tests and scoring 17 test tries.
Brooke was coaching the Barbarians touring party of 25 players drawn from seven nations on their annual tour.
Just a few hours before he was injured, his team had beaten Spain 52-26 at the Manuel Martinez Valero Stadium in Elche in front of a crowd of 4600.
This year's tour follows trips to Portugal in 2004 and Georgia last year.
