Cameron Suafoa back for Auckland Blues after cancer scare
The 26-year-old has spent large parts of the current Super Rugby season on the sidelines while he was being treated after a tumour was removed from his back late last year.
He is on the bench for Friday's match at the Melbourne Rebels. He last played in mid-March before announcing a fortnight ago that he was taking a break to focus on his recovery.
"Cam wasn't missing a beat at training," Blues flanker Dalton Papali'i told reporters Wednesday.
"He's shown a lot of resilience and courage coming back into the fold. All the boys are around him and I know Cam is keen to get stuck in."
Suafua has already played this season, despite his cancer scare. He was a fortnight into radiation treatment when he started in the defeat against Super Rugby leaders Wellington Hurricanes on March 9.
He made his 20th Super Rugby appearance a week later as a replacement in a win at the Waratahs in Sydney, a day after one of his weekly radiation treatments.
Suafoa was first diagnosed last year and posted a video to social media platform X in April to say he was stepping back from playing because of fatigue from his treatment.
"You talk about tough bastards in sport -- but seeing what Cam's gone through shows true courage," Papali'i added. "I look up to him."
The Blues are second in the Super Rugby table a point behind leaders the Hurricanes, who they face in Auckland on May 11.