He's showing no signs of slowing down, but Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock admits it was a nice change sitting back as an armchair critic during last week's Test against Italy.

The spell broke a run of 11 straight Tests for the powerhouse centre dating back to last July when he sat out a Bledisloe Cup clash after suffering a bout of concussion.

But Mortlock says he didn't miss his teammates one little bit.

"It is a bit different when you aren't carrying an injury or nursing something but it was a good thing from my perspective," Mortlock said on Friday.

"I was sitting at home watching the match, watching the boys running around. It was quite different, but enjoyable.

"I was in Melbourne for the majority of the week, for the whole preparation up until Thursday afternoon and had seen the diligent way the guys had applied themselves the whole week.

"So I had full confidence that they would go out and execute."

All Mortlock had to execute was the remote control to make sure he didn't miss a single minute of an action-packed night of international rugby.

"It was a big weekend last weekend for rugby. I had the opportunity to watch the All Blacks and the French and then obviously us and then after that the Lions (versus South Africa)," he said.

"So it was good to be on the other side of the box in a relaxing environment.

"(Veteran prop) Al Baxter and myself both got a good opportunity to get home and spend some quality time with our families.

"Even though we haven't been going too long, we're still putting a fair amount of effort into what we're doing, and are quite busy."

Mortlock will be back in the fray for his 79th Test on Saturday night against France at ANZ Stadium and says being rested from the 34-12 win over the Azzurri had freshened him up for a big game.

"I came back into camp on Sunday afternoon along with all the other guys feeling very mentally and physically refreshed and the preparation from the whole group (this week) has reflected that," he said.

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