Douglas relishing Chiefs clash
Douglas made his first playing appearance in eight months when he debuted for the Reds off the reserves bench in the 24-43 defeat to the Brumbies in Canberra last Friday, ending a lengthy stint on the sidelines following a knee reconstruction.
The 27-year-old set lock showed much courage in last week's encounter with the Brumbies, forcing the Reds' selectors to feature him in the game against Chiefs.
"I'm happy to be in Suncorp on Friday. It's always good to play with New Zealand teams. It's a great challenge and I'm excited to be part of the team.
"But I'm just worrying about [doing] that for the Reds first and we'll see what happens from there," said Douglas
the big lock couldn't hide his excitement to return home with Reds.
"I'm happy to play in front of home crowd and definitely I'm happy to put the red jersey and show commitment for my side."
Meanwhile, having spent time around Camp Wallaby finalising the rehabilitation on his knee and nursing himself back to full fitness, Douglas senses it's not all gloom and doom for the national team after their 0-3 series loss against England.
"The boys played well, you can't fault their effort in any of the games," he said.
"It was good to see some young guys get a crack and everyone definitely put in.
"These things happen, you have your dips and things like that, so hopefully we rectify that and sort it out."
The clash against the Chiefs that is likely to pit Douglas against All Blacks second-rowers Brodie Retallick and Dominic Bird, in an early test of his readiness for the international arena.
He expects he will be much better for his first run, although it's expected he will remain on the bench when the Queensland team is named on Wednesday, with Cadeyrn Neville and rookie Lukhan Tui set to retain their starting spots.
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