Enduring an army-style initiation during his six-week stint with the Australian sevens team has Michael Wells fighting fit for the NSW Waratahs' Super Rugby finals push.
An unsung hero of the Waratahs' late-season charge to last year's semi-finals, Wells made his first appearance of 2019 in Saturday's impressive 20-12 win over the defending champion Crusaders.
Wells only had 30 minutes off the bench and now the Waratahs' 2018 best forward award winner craves more following his self-confessed "baptism of fire in sevens".
"They chucked us on an army camp for a weekend the first week I was there and I think I lost like four or five kilos," Wells said on Tuesday.
"There are stretcher carriers up a mountain, we did some high diving board stuff, there was a lot of trekking and running, not much sleep, not much food.
"(It was about) pretty much getting a real appreciation of how the people who serve our country live and do their day to day job. It's tough."
Now back to his regular playing weight of 104kg, Wells believes he has returned to the 15-man game from his stint on the world sevens circuit a more rounded player.
"Sevens amplifies your skills," he said.
"You've got the same amount of ground with half of the amount of people. Your one-on-one, tracking, defence, catch-pass - everything is amplified.
"So I've had more exposure there. Hopefully I can bring that back."
Wells missed the Waratahs' 30-29 round-two escape against the Sunwolves in Tokyo and is eager to play his role in a more polished team performance in Friday night's return stoush in Newcastle.
"The last time against the Sunwolves I think we got a bit too loose," said the dynamic back-rower.
"And so whilst we are a great attacking team and we thrive in unstructured stuff, we also have really good set piece and I think we'll try and utilise that this week."
Australian Associated Press
