Deans plays waiting game with fresh All Blacks | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

The Crusaders' conditioning All Blacks can't wait to get on the field again, but coach Rob Deans may keep them guessing about when they'll be in action.

The Super Six are available for the Stormers match at Jade on Saturday week, and resumed training with the team on Monday.

"We were all charging around like 15-year-old kids again, excited to be in team training," said fullback Leon MacDonald.

"And I think that itself speaks a lot ? we're mentally fresher. It's a big year ahead of us and we don't want to have had too much rugby before we get to the World Cup."

But Deans isn't giving them any hints about when they'll be in action.

"Absolutely none ? he hasn't said a word about what he's planning on doing. He's good at keeping things like that close to his chest!"

The conditioning programme and lay-off from Super 14 may have been controversial, but MacDonald is in no doubt it can help us win the World Cup.

Although his spell playing in Japan was not as taxing as Super and NPC rugby, MacDonald said this year's window was the first time in his career he'd had a long break where he was both fit and able to train.

Many of the elite players had achieved new PBs for physical achievement or physique thanks to the conditioning programme, with some forwards muscling up another 5 or 6kg.

"Everyone's programmes were tailored specifically to their needs, and mine was purely speed and agility," said MacDonald.

"My speed times were point one of a second faster than what they were at the start. It doesn't sound much but it's a reasonable amount over 30m.

"We set some pretty tough goals for myself and managed to achieve them. So I'm really happy where I am at the moment, and it's just a matter of if I can keep injury free and keep building on that, it's a great starting point for the season."

They did 11 to 13 fitness sessions a week, he said. "A lot weren't just fitness work ? lot of flexibility and things like that to keep the body from breaking down."

Coming back this week was like joining the Crusaders for the first time, said MacDonald. The points table mightn't suggest it, but they'd played really well and could quite easily be sitting in the top quarter.

They didn't have the luxury of dropping a few games from now on, and the returning All Blacks had to use their freshness and enthusiasm to help lift the guys and try and bring them through that part of the season.

Some of the young guys might be feeling the rugby a little bit, physically and mentally, so the returning players had to be "spark plugs."