Lock Cameron Suafoa is to return for the Blues on Friday for the first time since finishing radiation treatment for cancer in early April.
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.
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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."
In Christchurch, British and Irish Lions full-back Leigh Halfpenny will make his long-awaited Super Rugby debut on Saturday after Crusaders named him in their starting line-up following three months out with a chest injury.
The 35-year-old former Wales international needed surgery after damaging a pectoral muscle in February on a pre-season tour to Ireland.
He has recovered quicker than expected and will start against Queensland Reds in Christchurch.
"Leigh now gets an opportunity at Super Rugby and he's excited about that," Crusaders head coach Rob Penney told reporters Wednesday.
"He's been training the house down for the last few weeks. He deserves the right to slip into that number 15 jersey."
Halfpenny joined the Crusaders last year after retiring from international rugby. He made 101 appearances for Wales, scoring 801 points, and also won four caps for the British and Irish Lions.
