Sonny Bill Williams available for the Spring Tour 2014?

[Jaguares]

Sonny Bill Williams has revealed that he intends to play for Counties Manukau in the back end of the ITM Cup in order to be available for selection on the All Blacks' end of year tour. SBW, who is currently playing for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL, will be trying to squeeze in as much rugby as he can to push for a position in the New Zealand 2015 World Cup team.

Counties coach and former All Blacks centre Tana Umanga made it clear that he would do his best to create playing time for SBW, who will be hoping that Counties qualify for the finals to satisfy eligibility criteria for All Blacks selection:

http://www.espnscrum.com/newzealand...ccfb4-5681726ab9-63589685#45aCm9b1eGT8WwKt.99

 

[ABs2011]

Great news. It seems SBW will do what ever he needs to do to make it back into the ABs and ultimately be in the RWC 2015 winning squad

Seriously though, this is very good news for NZ. He is quite simply a freakish athlete and IMO he was the best 12 in the country by the time he left. I suspect after some time in the NPC, the ABs tour and then Super Rugby he will easily get back to where he was before and likely surpass those levels.

The result is a formidable set of centres that the ABs will likely have going into the RWC. A choice of Nonu/SBW at 12, and Conrad Smith/Fekitoa at 13. Mouth watering stuff if you ask me - I'd love to see the SBW Fekitoa combo in action - how dynamic would that be!!

 

[HemiBro]

Good to see he is keen enough to earn his place back by playing ITM. How long is he going to stick around this time?

 

[nzlizard]

Great news. It seems SBW will do what ever he needs to do to make it back into the ABs and ultimately be in the RWC 2015 winning squad

Seriously though, this is very good news for NZ. He is quite simply a freakish athlete and IMO he was the best 12 in the country by the time he left. I suspect after some time in the NPC, the ABs tour and then Super Rugby he will easily get back to where he was before and likely surpass those levels.

The result is a formidable set of centres that the ABs will likely have going into the RWC. A choice of Nonu/SBW at 12, and Conrad Smith/Fekitoa at 13. Mouth watering stuff if you ask me - I'd love to see the SBW Fekitoa combo in action - how dynamic would that be!!

Agree completely, glad to see he wants to work hard for that spot. He was simply awesome as a 12 in the end.

Him and Fekitoa together are an exciting combo for games, although Smith provides me with such a feeling of security.

Good to see he is keen enough to earn his place back by playing ITM. How long is he going to stick around this time?

Not to worried about him hanging around, so long as it is for the world cup then that is enough for me.

 

[Jack Reacher]

You can never question his commitment once hes arrived, obviously he has the loyalty of a cat! Great to see him back, if Hansen is going to pick him next year he might as well take him on tour. Its not as if someone will miss out, there hasn't been a specialty 2nd/5 behind Nonu for years.
Even take him as a development player like Savea last year.