"When I was in Japan, the level the All Blacks played went up and the depth of new names kept popping up in the loose forwards and it crossed my mind that I probably wouldn't be the same player if I came back and that I probably wouldn't get ahead of those young guys," he said. "To be back here and starting for the All Blacks is amazing."
He's made it look easy and yet it's not. Others have tried to slip out of New Zealand in their prime, fill their pockets with foreign loot and then come home, hoping it would be like they had never gone. It hasn't worked out like that for any of them. Brad Thorn managed it but his situation was a little different. He played league and, besides, Thorn is in that same freakish category.
It takes an athlete with immense dedication to successfully pull off the mid-year foreign sabbatical. And they can't do it, either, without an abundance of natural talent.
Which is the bit that maybe gets forgotten in relation to Kaino. He's always been a special athlete, recognised from a young age as someone with the natural gifts to go further than most. St Kentigern College could see something when they hauled him out of Papakura High, where he was playing as a fullback. They had a scholarship in front of him with almost obscene haste.
Auckland, too, needed only one look at Kaino to be sure he was the future. But it was the All Blacks who took the least convincing. Kaino, after a handful of games for Auckland, was selected in 2004 to travel with the All Blacks on their end-of-season tour to Europe.
No one outside of Auckland had even heard of him. Not many in Auckland had, either. But All Black coach Graham Henry and his assistant at the time, Steve Hansen, were certain they had a special player.
It has taken the better part of 10 years for Kaino to convince everyone Henry and Hansen were right. But they were right. Who else in the modern game could take nearly three years out and return better than they were before they left?
Richie McCaw and Dan Carter could probably have pulled it off, and so could Kieran Read, but that would be about it. It's hard to see any others having the same combination of talent and desire to make it happen.
Desire has been critical in Kaino's conversion. He couldn't have done it had he not been burning inside.
He admits there were more than a few times he regretted his decision to play in Japan. He says there were times when he was hugely frustrated by the nature of the competition and set-up and knew after 18 months he couldn't stay beyond his current contract.
"A huge part of my decision in coming home was that I had that desire and drive to play for the All Blacks and I didn't want to retire thinking, 'what if?'"
Career Choice
Luke McAlister
McAlister left New Zealand in 2007 aged 24 after 22 tests for the All Blacks. He joined Sale Sharks in England, avoided injury and played most weeks for the club and, when he returned to New Zealand in June 2009, the New Zealand Rugby Union broke their own rules to fast-track him into the All Blacks. He won another eight test caps that year, mainly at second-five. McAlister was injured for much of 2010 and didn't deliver consistent form in 2011 for the Blues, when his defence became porous. He announced in July, after missing the World Cup squad, he would be joining Toulouse.
Troy Flavell
The lock played 15 tests before departing in 2003, aged 26. After a promising start to this test career, the abrasive, yet highly mobile Flavell left for Japan when he didn't fit into John Mitchell's 2003 World Cup plans. Flavell was a bruising lock athletic enough to play at No 6, so the All Black coaches encouraged him to return in 2006. He won two caps that year and another five in 2007, when his form with the Blues was consistent, but he didn't quite do enough with his opportunities to nail a World Cup place and, when he missed selection for France, gave the Blues one more campaign before heading overseas again.
Carl Hayman
Hayman played 45 tests for the All Blacks before his departure in 2007, aged 27. He was rated the best tight-head prop in world rugby when he joined Newcastle after the failed World Cup campaign. He had two-and-a-half solid seasons and then thought long and hard about coming home for the 2011 World Cup. Hayman had an enormous offer from the NZRU, which included a soft loan to enable him to buy a farm but, in the end, wasn't sure he had the desire or ability to make it back into the team so signed with Toulon instead.
