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Highlanders lock Tom Donnelly is champing at the bit as he prepares for the Super 14 match against the Crusaders at Carisbrook in Dunedin tonight.
Donnelly, 27, will play his first game of the season, off the bench, after rupturing the ligaments in his right thumb in pre-season training five weeks ago.
"It's about four months now since I've played a game so, as you can imagine, I'm keen to get out there and have a run," Donnelly said.
"I've trained fully this week and everything has gone to plan. Triggsy [Hayden Triggs] and Josh [Bekhuis] have been playing outstandingly so it will be tough to get my starting spot back."
But Donnelly is one of the few senior players in the Highlanders - he has made 52 appearances for Otago since his debut in 2002 and 38 for the Highlanders.
"Tom's an experienced campaigner. He's been playing at this level for four or five years and he will add value to the side, that's for sure," Highlanders coach Glenn Moore said.
Donnelly played for the Junior All Blacks in 2006 and 2007 and was in the All Blacks' wider training group last year but he has no lofty goals at the moment.
"I just want to get back playing for the Highlanders and to have a decent season," he said.
Donnelly suffered his thumb injury during tackling practice.
"It was a freak accident. It was just the way I fell. I was all ready for the Super 14 but I had an operation on the thumb the next day."
It has been a frustrating time but Donnelly said he had tried to contribute as much as he could off the field.
"I've tried to chip away behind the scenes and to help the guys out as much as I can at training," Donnelly said.
"They've played very well in patches but it's just those little mistakes which have cost us games. We have to eliminate those. At this level, so much is in the top two inches and we've had the occasional brain explosion."
Donnelly was in the Highlanders side which beat the Crusaders 26-14 in the last match of round robin play last year and two wins for Otago against Canterbury in 2005 rate among his best rugby memories.
"It's always special when you beat the Crusaders or Canterbury but we can't dwell on what happened last year or in 2005."
Donnelly acknowledged the Crusaders would be desperate after consecutive losses, including last week's home loss to the Hurricanes.
"They're just finding their feet and I expect them to get better and better. Once they find the right formula, they'll be very tough to beat."
Donnelly believes this season's competition may be one of the toughest since Super rugby began in 1996.
"The standard has been quite good for this stage of the season and I think the teams are a lot more even. There's been little to separate most sides. A lot has come down to little mistakes - as we know, to our cost, from the first two matches."
The Highlanders have had three changes to their starting lineup that played against the Waratahs last weekend.
Captain Jimmy Cowan returns at halfback in place of Sean Romans, George Naoupu comes in for Steven Setephano at No8 and Jayden Hayward replaces the injured Johnny Leota at second five-eighth.
- NZPA
