New Zealand prop John Afoa has defended the decision by several All Blacks to take time off despite little involvement in the Tri-Nations.

Following the conclusion of the series involving South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, all the players were entitled to two weeks off, although Wellington's Cory Jane, Hosea Gear and Rodney So'oialo opted to return to their province immediately.

"A lot of the guys have been playing since the last week of the Super 14 and went straight into camp. That's a long time and even the guys that didn't play at all, I think it's important for those guys to have a break," argued Afoa, who played just over an hour of rugby across the whole series.

Afoa, Waikato's Aled de Malmanche and Brendon Leonard and Bay of Plenty forward Tanerau Latimer, have however come in for criticism for choosing to take the break even though they have played little or no part in the actual Test matches.

"You're there training, you're there travelling - you're doing all the work except for the 80 minutes of the game," Afoa added on Radio Sport.

Afoa was originally not due back for Auckland for another week but has answered coach Mark Anscombe's SOS call after Paea Fa'anunu (knee) and Charlie Faumuina (broken nose) were ruled out of this weekend's Air New Zealand Cup match against Southland.

"I spoke to him when the All Blacks first got back and he clearly said he wanted two weeks," Anscombe said of Afoa.

"But then we spoke to him again earlier in the week and he was pretty keen to come back and play which was great news for us. He is a quality player."

Auckland, who are mid-table after back-to-back losses to North Harbour and Tasman, are also bolstered by the return All Blacks loose forward Jerome Kaino for Saturday's clash with the Stags.