Good news for Crusaders and
Canterbury fans, with 115-Test All Black Sam Whitelock set to return to
one or both of those clubs, if rugby returns in 2020.
According to New Zealand's Super Rugby website, the 31-year old featured on Sky Sport’s the Breakdown and told Jeff Wilson, with the Japan league now cancelled, he’s still hoping to play some rugby this year.
“We
are pretty gutted the Japan competition has been cancelled, we
understand, but we were sitting pretty well on the table. But we are
back in New Zealand at the moment and we will make our way back to
Christchurch once we are allowed to travel a bit further.
“We will head back there and hopefully meet back up with the Crusaders or Canterbury, whatever competition kicks off first.”
Whitelock
signed a four-year contract extension with New Zealand Rugby last year,
which allowed him to have a sabbatical. He was set to miss this year’s
Super Rugby competition, having linked up with Japanese club, the
Panasonic Wild Knights, on a short-term contract.
He’s been heavily involved in talks with the Rugby Players
Association, Super Rugby clubs and Provincial Unions, as well as women’s
and Sevens players and administrators. Whitelock admits it’s been a
challenging time, but good brains have been put together to try and come
up with some good solutions.
“We are going through a
number of scenarios. Whether we start playing at the first of a month,
15 days in or at the end of a month and we are doing that all through
the year. We are working out whether we can play domestically, men’s,
women’s, and sevens, or can we actually play internationally. It may
even start domestically and then a couple of months in, the borders open
up and we can travel overseas to Australia or Japan or the traditional
SANZAAR countries.
“So, it’s all those different
possibilities that have been looked at, and there are a number of
calendars out there that we are debating. As players, we just have to be
ready to go when we do get the information from the government saying
we can get into it at this level.”
Whitelock said players are taking the approach at the moment that they are in off season.
“When
we get the green light, there is going to be a three to four week lead
in before a competition can start because we have to scrum against each
other and practice line outs and contact and all those things that make
rugby great.”
The prospect of a North v South game is something that really appeals to Whitelock.
“For
me personally, I’ve never played a North v South match and I’ve heard a
few great stories about how it used to be the grudge match of the year.
We are looking at that and All Blacks trials if we can’t travel
internationally.