Beauden Barrett will start the All Blacks' opening match of their South African tour against the Stormers in Cape Town on 7 August, ending a July spent entirely on the sidelines and offering the 35-year-old a route back into Dave Rennie's Test plans.
Barrett, capped 144 times, did not feature in any of New Zealand's three Nations Championship wins over France, Italy and Ireland. Rennie preferred Ruben Love at fly-half throughout, with Damian McKenzie selected at fullback and offering cover, which removed the need for a specialist No 10 on the bench and left Barrett without a jersey.
Rennie confirmed the selection at this week's squad announcement, and did so almost in passing.
"Well, Beauden will start against the Stormers. There you go. There's a little leg up," he told media, when asked how uncapped Chiefs playmaker Josh Jacomb's inclusion affected Barrett's prospects.
The coach was emphatic that Barrett had earned it with his conduct in camp rather than through any change of mind about the pecking order.
"I've said it before, but Beauden has really impressed me. He's training superbly. His contribution has been excellent. Very professional. He's been incredibly supportive of Ruben," Rennie said.
"It's tough for him because he's probably trained well enough to get an opportunity, but we just felt that Ruben needed time in the seat, and he's done a really good job there. So Beauden will get his opportunity against the Stormers, which is exciting, and he's keen to rip in."
Barrett is one of four fly-halves in the 44-man touring party alongside Love, McKenzie and Jacomb - an unusually deep stock at the position, and one that could yet grow. Richie Mo'unga, back in New Zealand and returning through the NPC with Canterbury, remains on Rennie's radar.
"Oh, there's a chance," Rennie said of a possible mid-tour call-up. "He'll play for Canterbury this weekend, and then once he's done that, if we have an injury at 10, then he's an option to come."
The fourth fly-half came at a cost elsewhere. Only three halfbacks were selected, with Crusaders scrum-half Noah Hotham missing out altogether.
"Obviously, Noah Hotham's the obvious choice as the fourth halfback, and if we were to get an injury, then we'd bring in a replacement," Rennie said. "But Cam's had a lot of footy. We're keen to get a lot more rugby into the other two boys, and so they'll share a big chunk of the load in the first three weeks."
The more revealing disclosure was logistical. Rennie confirmed the matchday 23s for the first four fixtures in South Africa - the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls games plus the first Test at Ellis Park on 22 August - have already been settled, forced on the management by a scrambled travel plan.
The squad's original route through Dubai was abandoned months ago. The All Blacks will now fly to South Africa on three separate flights, via Singapore, Hong Kong and Perth, arriving in stages.
"We picked the 44 a long time ago, and there hasn't been a lot of footy between when we picked the 44 and now. We had some really strong opinions around that," Rennie said.
"So 30 people will be travelling on Thursday, and we have decided to leave 23 at home and with seven staff. So those guys will play the Stormers. We had to pick the first Test team and then try and work back to make sure we're sharing the load and to come up with a 23 that would stay. So complicated probably, but it allows that group to have one extra training day and preparation, and then they'll arrive in Cape Town on a Friday and have a full week to prepare for the Stormers."
Nothing is set in stone. "Even the Test team that we picked, we picked it before the Irish Test, so that may change a little bit," Rennie said. "But everyone will play in those first three games, which is great, and we're going to share the load."
Captain Ardie Savea is the one absentee from the group already in South Africa, given time off after what Rennie described as a massive workload and due to arrive around 10 days before the first Test. Hooker Codie Taylor leads the tour in the interim, and was taken aback by the reception at Friday's welcome event at Cape Town Stadium, where more than 2,000 supporters turned out.
"I knew we had fans here, but I didn't expect this much support," Taylor said.
Rennie, meanwhile, refused to read much into New Zealand's perfect July. "We're building, we're a new side. We've got a lot of new staff and we've got a lot of new young players. It was a good performance, but we're well aware of how tough this challenge is."
He will find out quickly. Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has promised his side are "going all in to make Cape Town proud" next Friday.
