Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is set to unleash Lote Tuqiri on the Barbarians in Wednesday night's historic clash at Wembley.
Tuqiri has been little more than a passenger on the spring tour, taking in the sights of Hong Kong, Venice, London and Paris before being named on the bench for his eagerly-awaited comeback match against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday (starting 1.30am Sunday AEDT).
While he has enjoyed the camaraderie of the tour and described his extended layoff since post-Tri Nations knee surgery as "probably a blessing in disguise", the superstar winger said he was desperate to get back on the paddock.
"I'm just looking forward to getting on the field and playing, getting my hands on the footy," he said on Friday.
"The boys have been going pretty well. Had the tour not gone well, it might have been a bit more depressing.
"Hopefully I get a run next week. I've been working pretty hard."
Tuqiri revealed he was "sort of playing on one and a half legs" in his last match, the 28-24 loss to New Zealand in Brisbane in September.
But now the 66-Test veteran is back to full fitness, coach Deans has pencilled him in for the Ba Bas showdown.
The Wembley match marks the 100th anniversary of Australia winning the rugby gold medal at the 1908 London Olympics.
"It's going to be pretty special," Tuqiri said.
"To be part of the first rugby game played there would be great as well. It's another notch on the belt, so they say."
Although the game lacks official Test status, South Africa's World Cup-winning coaching team of Jake White and Australia's own Eddie Jones will field an all-star line-up against the Wallabies.
Former Wallabies captain George Gregan, Springboks Bryan Habana, Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger and John Smit, along with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and Wales' newly-crowned world player of the year Shane Williams will all be on deck.
"It won't be a game where they'll go into it half-hearted," Tuqiri said.
"Jake White will want to prove something to an extent, seeing as though he hasn't coached now for a while.
"He'll get a fair bit out of his South African players. And Eddie as well. Eddie being Eddie will have a point to prove also.
"So it's not going to be an easy game. I think they'll approach it as a Test match and we are as well."
Tuqiri said a victory over the Barbarians would cap a successful tour in which the Wallabies had not only made strides on the field, but also broken down barriers off it.
"Everyone's sort of playing for each other. Probably in the past, there's been little cliques here and there," Tuqiri said.
"But everyone seems to be mingling quite well together. I don't know how that's come about, but certainly we've been wanting to do things together off the field more.
"The tour's been good because it's built team spirit. And especially with the young guys coming through, it's been really good."
Still, like most of his teammates, Tuqiri was looking forward to getting home from the Wallabies' longest spring campaign in professional rugby history.
"You do miss family and I've got two kids now," he said. "That's probably the hardest bit.
"Skype phones and everything else like that pretty much makes up for it, but it doesn't make up for the physicality of picking up your child or hugging your missus or anything else.
"Other than that, it's been a good tour."
