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Sonny Bill Williams' reported $9.7m post-World Cup offer
By Online Editors
All Blacks second five-eighth Sonny Bill Willams has reportedly been offered a staggering $9.7m deal to return to rugby league after the Rugby World Cup.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the 34-year-old, who came off the bench in Saturday's World Cup semifinal defeat to England, has been offered the two-year deal to play for the Toronto Wolfpack in Europe's Super League.
The Canadian franchise is funded by Australian mining billionaire David Argyle and will make its debut in the Super League next year after winning promotion by beating Featherstone Rovers in the second division final.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Williams has also received multi-year, multi-million dollar offers from overseas rugby clubs.
His contract with New Zealand Rugby comes to an end at the conclusion of the Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks play Wales in the bronze final on Friday night which is expected to be Williams' final test for New Zealand.
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The two-time World Cup winner fronted an All Blacks press conference yesterday in Japan and when asked to reveal his sporting future Williams said: "Soon bro, soon, we're just trying to finalise that."
Williams also appeared to brush off recent reports that suggested he would be joining the Sydney Roosters in a coaching capacity next year.
Wolfpack head coach Brian McDermott previously said Toronto wanted to bring in a "David Beckham-type player" and that Williams fit the bill.
"Our club would want to have a name that's absolutely international that everybody would recognise and help the profile of our game, very much like David Beckham did for Major League Soccer," McDermott added.
"But he would have to be a very good player as well, he's got to be able to do the job that I want him to do. There would be no token player or just a headline-grabbing player."
While he wasn't prepared to talk about his future in yesterday's press conference, Williams offered some insight into the next All Blacks coach with Steve Hansen stepping down after the World Cup.
Williams was asked about Ian Foster's credentials and rather than endorse the All Blacks attack coach he instead opted to make a strong push for the inclusion of a M?ori or Pacific Island coach within the All Blacks set-up.
Blues assistant Tana Umaga and successful Japan coach Jamie Joseph are two such figures, while Blues head coach Leon MacDonald has played for the New Zealand M?ori, and Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger has Tahitian and Samoan heritage.
Dave Rennie, a man who Williams shares close ties with after they won two Super Rugby titles at the Chiefs, has Cook Islands heritage but he is thought to be close to signing on to replace Michael Cheika at the Wallabies.
"When it comes to that there are going to be a few guys putting their heads up isn't there? By a few reports I may have to put my hand up too because I'm stepping into coaching," Williams said with a smile.
"Good luck to everyone who puts their hand up and tries to step into that role. There are a lot of coaches who will be leaving at the end of this year.
"One thing I would probably put to NZR is it would be good to see a Pacific Islander or M?ori in the coaching system that would have a bit of influence because the way the game is going and is today, there's a lot of M?ori and Island boys that play for the All Blacks.
"I'm just thinking how can we get a lot more out of those boys. I know there's a bit of space there for that growth."
Thi article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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