Lynn McConnell at Waitakere
New All Blacks captain Mils Muliaina admitted things felt a little strange when he assembled with the side in Auckland on Wednesday but said he was congratulated by the man he is standing in for, Richie McCaw, and he would be leaning on him and others in the weeks ahead in the role.
In his captaincy of the Super 14 finalists, the Chiefs, Muliaina made heavy use of his lieutenants scattered through the team to run the game plan. And he intended to continue in that fashion in the forthcoming Test series.
"It does feel a little strange but I am excited by it. This is a great achievement for myself and I know my family are very proud about it," he said.
But it was also tough having to switch back on so soon after returning from the South African trek.
"I was tired today, I just about hit the wall coming to training. But it's nice to be back."
He admitted to feeling jaded, a hangover from the long flight home and the loss involved with the Super 14 final in Pretoria. The players were knocked around and he said it was a physically draining match.
However, the unexpected leadership duty had given him something to concentrate on very quickly when back in the All Blacks environment.
"There's no really special thing that I have to go through to tell the boys. If there's something to be said I'll say it."
The latest camp was time to get absorbed into the new team environment and to work on understanding the new game plan, talking about calls and getting new players into the team groove.
"That's really the focus over the next couple of days and when we come into camp again next week for the start of the new Test campaign is when I'll start to talk a bit."
He didn't believe being only the second fullback captain in New Zealand's Test history, the first was in 1913, affected his ability to lead the side.
He was concerned when first taking the role with the Chiefs but it hadn't been an issue so far.
"I don't really do too much apart from talking to the boys before and during the game. The only real problem is the scrums but I have got a little better with that. I'm a lot more confident in talking to the referees and that's been something it has been really easy to do," he said.
Muliaina said fullback did give him a good view of what was happening in games and he gave feedback to those in front about what he was seeing.
"I know I'm the captain but there's actually a core group of guys who run the game plan, the likes of the first fives and the halfbacks. My job is really to give feedback to them about where we can do a bit better," he said.
Being a captain didn't involve talking a lot during the game, it was more a case of getting the players together when there were key moments in the game.
"The last thing you want to be doing is talking all the time because the guys don't really need that."