ISA NACEWA INSISTS he is in top physical condition ahead of his second spell with Leinster.

The 32-year-old Kiwi made 126 appearances in five seasons with the province after joining from the Auckland Blues in 2008. He went on to win the three Heineken Cups and a PRO12 title before retiring in 2013.

However, the utility back, who has most recently been working as a mental skills coach with the Blues, did a U-turn on the decision to hang up the boots by announcing his return to Leinster at the end of April.

“It was a really exciting opportunity for my family,” Nacewa told RTÉ 2fm’s Game On. “To get away and get back to where the girls were born, it was not hard for me to make the decision to come back to Leinster. It’s the club that I wanted to play for so it was a no-brainer in my eyes.

There was always an urge to come back to Dublin and to Ireland and when an opportunity came up, we talked about it as a family and decided it was the best thing for us to do.”

After two years away from competitive rugby, Nacewa says he has been working hard to regain his full fitness by taking part in his own “pre pre-season” before linking up with Leinster next week.

“The body is in really good condition,” he added. “I think the time away doing nothing has done wonders for me. I’ve learned a lot about how to prep your body and from just being on the other side of the fence too.

“I’ve spent the past six months getting my body back into rugby shape so I’m really looking forward to starting pre-season. There has been a huge amount of hard work already but the real work starts on 1 July.”

Listen to the full Game On interview here

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