Joe Webber is grateful for having a close friend to call on during the toughest times of his rugby career.
The outside back has been included in the All Blacks sevens squad for their upcoming world series tournaments in Hong Kong and Singapore, after being sidelined for a year withreactive arthritis.
Webber's contracted the condition just a week out from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and hasn't pulled on the black jersey since.
His attempts to play through the pain at the Games proved insufficient, having to pull out of the tournament during the captain's run.
"Out of the blue my heel started feeling sore, then my toes and ankle swelled up overnight and I could hardly walk," Webber describes.
"That's when I got some blood tests and found out it was reactive arthritis."
Fortunately, Webber knew somebody who had knew what he was going through. In 2013 Webber played in the New Zealand under-20 side with current Blues prop Sione Mafileo, who also contracted the rare condition and was sidelined for a similar period of time.
"When I found out I had the same thing as him I just contacted him straight away and asked him 'Bro what was it like, and what did you do to get through it?'" said Webber.
"To be honest he was a bit hopeless and didn't remember too much on what helped him out, but he said it should go away within a year and is bloody sore, and he was pretty spot on."
However, Webber was just happy there was someone he could relate to and talk about the rare injury with.
"Being able to talk to him was a huge help and it kept me so positive.
"It's been five years for him and there's been no symptoms come back, which is really encouraging."
Now, Webber is back at the highest level of sevens, and says being named in the squad for Hong Kong for this week's tournament was incredibly emotional.
"I never knew - and the specialist never knew - if it was going to come right, so to finally see my name back on the team list after a year was special."
Joe Webber was injured during the Rio Olympics. Photo / Getty
Having been injured in the first game at the Rio Olympics and missing out on Commonwealth Games and World Cup glory, Webber's realistic about how cruel professional sport can be.
So, while his return is a timely one, just 16 months out from the Tokyo Olympics, he's careful not to fantasise about being in Japan just yet.
"I'm stoked that I should be able to fit in a good pre-season then get some tournaments under my belt going into Tokyo, but there are so many things that could happen between now and then.
"It's hard to get too excited, but I'll just keep training hard and see what happens."
