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Brad Weber the latest All Black set to leave NZ
By Ian Cameron
Scrumhalf Brad Weber looks to be the latest All Black set to leave New Zealand after the Rugby World Cup in France.
According to Le'Equipe, Weber, who has made 18 appearances for the All Blacks and is a key player for the Waikato Chiefs in Super Rugby Pacific, is said to have signed a contract with Top 14 big spenders Stade Francais.
While not Ian Foster's first choice nine, Weber featured for the men in black during the recent Autumn Nations Series campaign, having been initially named in the inaugural All Blacks XV tour for their end-of-year tour.
The move to the Parisian club will mark Weber's first venture overseas, as he has spent his entire professional career in New Zealand thus far.
Should he be selected, the Rugby World Cup in France later this year, would be Weber's second appearance in the tournament. Stade will no doubt hope that the exciting halfback can bring his skills and experience to the team as they aim for success in the Top 14 and European Cup competitions.
The 31-year-old Weber became a key member of the Chiefs since making his Super debut in 2014 and now sits on 110 appearances for the team. He made his All Blacks Test debut in 2015 and has been yo-yo-ing in and out of the team since.
Weber, who hails from Hawkes Bay, first gained national recognition when he was selected for the New Zealand Under 20 team in 2011.
The following year, he made his provincial debut for Otago before transferring to Waikato for three seasons. In 2016, Weber returned to his home province.
A year earlier he earned an All Blacks call-up for the match against Samoa and also made his debut for the M?ori All Blacks. Weber served as captain for the Gallagher Chiefs in 2019 and was included in the All Blacks squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, where he played in three games. In 2021, Weber co-captained the Gallagher Chiefs and continued to impress, earning a spot on the All Blacks team for the Steinlager Series and the Fortinet Rugby Championship.
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Latest Comments
Well the other idea I had been toying with which I think is still used in football, is something like each pool winners of the Challenge Cup gets entry into the round of 16 etc (or whateveer equivalnt entry point we can come up with) in the Champions Cup.
Those T2 sides could play a pool or some simple comp with the bottom dwellers (that was actually something else I liked in Jones structure, he left out 2 English sides alltogehter, 4+4-2), and then come into the Challenge Cup when those top4 sides go up?
That idea just helps keep a nice balance for me. I like both comps having exactly the same structure, and raising 4 or so T2 sides requires that to break in some manner.
Neither. You have a situation where like the Stormers lose to la Rochelle in Ro16 but lose out to a lower performing league team in Benneton (5th place v 7th) just because they made it to the semis of Challenge Cup.
Go to commentsWalter has been permanently psychologically damaged since his wife left him and moved in with a man from Sydney.
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