Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read on Friday revealed he caught coronavirus while playing in Japan, but backed the Tokyo Olympics to go ahead.
Read, who retired this month after ending his stint with Toyota Verblitz, said he tested positive earlier this year when the season was postponed.
"My club went through Covid, I had it - we had a few weeks of isolation," Read told NewstalkZB in New Zealand, where he is undergoing two weeks' quarantine after returning to his homeland.
"It wasn't too bad, there was a day or so of feeling pretty bad and upset then I came good. Half our team got it and it went round quite a few of the clubs so they postponed the season."
Despite his brush with the virus, Read believed the Games would take place and had the support of the Japanese public.
"The Japanese people are very compliant. I wore a mask for six months, everywhere I went, everyone does that.
"The general feeling is they want the Olympics to go ahead because there's so much invested in it but they understand it's bigger than what it is."
Read's assessment of Japanese public opinion is at odds with polls showing most people want the 2020 Games delayed further or cancelled.
Japan is battling a fourth wave of infections, with Tokyo and other areas under a state of emergency.