Italy's Rugby World Cup prop Martin Castrogiovanni - a tough man described by the All Blacks as a "nightmare" opponent and a future team-mate of Dan Carter - has had a tumour removed from his back just days after his team exited the tournament.
Castrogiovanni, Italy's most capped player with 115 tests and the man who almost prematurely ended Wyatt Crockett's All Blacks career in an infamous test in 2009, took to Facebook shortly after his operation on Tuesday to post a photo of himself smiling in his hospital bed, and added: "All good!!!"
Castrogiovanni, who turns 34 tomorrow and plays for glamour French club Racing Metro where Carter is heading after the World Cup, missed Italy's third pool match against Ireland with a sciatic nerve problem and tests found a tumour pressing on his fifth vertebrae.
Castrogiovanni pulled out of the remainder of the World Cup - his fourth - missing the Azzurri's final match against Romania.
Italy had already exited the tournament after failing to qualify from Pool D, which included Ireland, France, Canada and Romania.