It is time to hit some rucks, soar high for some lineout takes, and help get the Highlanders’ season back on track.
Haig will make his comeback to top rugby tomorrow night when he starts at blindside flanker against the Fijian Drua, his Super Rugby return coming three months after he fractured a bone in his foot during a training session.
"We were just doing some mauls, going to one side, and it just snapped," he said yesterday.
"It hurt quite a lot. I tried to go on but it didn’t really hold my weight, so I knew something was wrong."
Having to wait patiently for the foot to come right to the point he could get on the field again was difficult, Haig said.
"It’s been painful, but I’ve just been trying to think positively.
"This was the end goal — to come back and play some rugby, so I just looked forward to that and made sure I was in the best nick possible.
"There’s been some highs and lows [watching the Highlanders]. Some intense watching, but also some great stuff out there which has been great to watch."
The injury temporarily curtailed one of the most rapid rises by a Highlanders player in recent years.
Haig, 23, came from almost nowhere to place a firm grip on the Highlanders No 6 jersey last season, and his workrate, physicality and aerial skills were recognised with selection in the All Blacks XV for a northern tour.
Getting to play against Irish club Munster was a buzz, he said.
"It was amazing. Great environment to be part of. Great team, great coaches.
"To be able to play in front of a crowd like Munster ... it was amazing. I was very lucky."
That tour with the second-stringers offered a good insight into the sort of level you needed to reach to play international rugby, Haig said.
The Otago Boys’ High School old boy, who was born in Perth but whose accent is proof he spent some of his formative years in England, could not have imagined his career taking off so quickly.
His comeback started last week with a club game at No 8 for Green Island, but he said he was very happy to be wearing No 6 for the Highlanders.
Haig is a fine lineout exponent, but young lock Fabian Holland will continue to make lineout calls on the field.
