The Highlanders, or at least the squad that played the Lions in Johannesburg on Sunday morning (NZ time) will arrive back in Dunedin this morning, ready for a couple of weeks off after a campaign that began with pre-season training in late November.
Otago, though, is about to swing right into its Mitre 10 Cup campaign, with a couple of pre-season games to be followed by the opening game in the competition against Southland in Invercargill on August 21.
With Otago having more than a dozen players in the Highlanders, it could create a problem for the opening games of the Otago season.
Otago coach Cory Brown said some of the Super rugby players had elected to come back next week, while others had decided to come back into training on August 15.
Brown hoped to have all players available for the game against Southland but would talk to lock Tom Franklin and outside back Matt Faddes to see how they were feeling.
The duo have both had heavy workloads during Super rugby.
"We've just got to manage it. It is unfortunate with the start of the competition coming. Super rugby is just getting longer and longer but we have to live with that,'' he said.
"The guys are really keen to play for Otago and that is the main thing.''
Brown had to be mindful that minds may be willing this early in the season but bodies may not be so willing as the campaign gets further into the season.
It was about managing workloads and identifying when players needed a rest and taking action.
Brown would name his Otago squad for the season on Friday and he said it had been a hard one to name, as he had to be mindful of the availability of the Super rugby players.
The one major unknown for the Mitre 10 Cup is how the trial rules will impact on the competition.
The trial laws centre around the breakdown, removing a gate, and the rights of the tackler, and introduces a less clear-cut offside line.
The rules have been used in club rugby in Dunedin and in other unions but some provinces, such as Hawke's Bay, have elected not to use them.
Brown said the biggest issue might not be the rules themselves but the men who interpreted them.
"It is just going to be interesting in how the refs ref the new laws. But rugby players, on the whole, are pretty adaptable, so we should be able to get up to speed reasonably quickly.
"A team like ours, who plays in the stadium, under the roof, try to play the game at pace, should have an advantage, you would think.''
Brown said the new laws made it hard to get any pure turnovers through a classic steal from a forward and there was much more counter rucking to get the ball.
Otago would play as a Sassenachs team against the Cantabrians, a side of Canterbury players, at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday. Its final pre-season game was against Southland in Queenstown on August 11.
