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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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Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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