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Ex-All Black Shaun Stevenson’s ‘bombshell’ move to Japan – report
By Finn Morton
One-Test All Black Shaun Stevenson is reportedly on the move with a New Zealand broadcaster dropping “a rugby bombshell” on Monday. James McOnie has revealed that Stevenson has signed with Kubota Spears in Japan effective immediately, which would be a major loss for the Chiefs.
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Stevenson was included in the Chiefs’ squad for next year’s Super Rugby Pacific season, which was announced on November 12. The fullback has been among the competition’s elite over the past few seasons, which included an especially eye-catching campaign in 2023.
With Damian McKenzie steering the ship at first five-eighth, Stevenson thrived out the back by scoring 11 tries before the Grand Final last year. The 28-year-old capped off a sensational individual season with another try in the big dance, but the Chiefs fell to the Crusaders that night.
Bit of a rugby bombshell: 💣
Fullback Shaun Stevenson is leaving the Chiefs to play for Kubota in Japan, effective immediately. He’s 28 and because he played his only test for the All Blacks last year, Stevenson will be eligible for Samoa at the next Rugby World Cup 🏉🇼🇸— James McOnie (@JamesMcOnie) December 9, 2024
Before the Rugby World Cup, Stevenson was overlooked by New Zealand’s Ian Foster before The Rugby Championship, but the coach did end up calling the outside back in to debut for the All Blacks in their dramatic win over Eddie Jones’ Wallabies in Dunedin.
Stevenson went on to play 80 minutes for the Barbarians against Wales before starting 12 matches for the Chiefs during the 2024 season. The flyer scored five tries for North Harbour in New Zealand’s NPC and has since started at fullback for the All Blacks XV against Georgia.
Regarded as a supremely talented and exciting rugby player, Stevenson had been linked with a code switch to the NRL but opted to remain in rugby union, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be playing the code in New Zealand.
“Bit of a rugby bombshell,” McOnie wrote on X. “Fullback Shaun Stevenson is leaving the Chiefs to play for Kubota in Japan, effective immediately.
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“He’s 28 and because he played his only test for the All Blacks last year, Stevenson will be eligible for Samoa at the next Rugby World Cup.”
There has been no official announcement from the Chiefs at the time of writing.
McOnie’s transfer gossip would’ve come as more bad news for Chiefs fans who had already been told that day that Aidan Ross was leaving the club. The one-test All Black will play for the Chiefs during next year’s Super Rugby Pacific before linking up with the Queensland Reds.
Ross has played in two Super Rugby Pacific Grand Finals, and also the Super Rugby Aotearoa decider, during a successful stint with the Chiefs that started with a debut in 2017. The prop has since gone on to play for the All Blacks in one of their three matches against Ireland in 2022.
This transfer might be music to the ears of Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, with Ross eligible to play for Australia from July. The 118-kilogram enforcer was born in Gosford on the Central Coast, north of Sydney, but moved to Tauranga in New Zealand at eight years of age.
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The loosehead prop played 14 matches for the Chiefs during this year’s Super Rugby Pacific campaign, which included 13 starts and a 65-minute shift in the Grand Final 41-10 loss to the Blues at Auckland’s Eden Park.
As Ross explained in a statement on Monday, the Bay of Plenty front rower is looking forward to the next chapter of his rugby career on the other side of the ditch.
“I’ve been at the Chiefs since day dot. I want the team to have a huge season in 2025 and finish in a big way because I owe so much to the franchise, the coaches and my teammates for moulding me as a rugby player,” Ross said.
“Beyond that it is a good time to do something different off-shore.
“The attraction with Australia is that I can go there and not be a foreign player. It’s appealing to also be close to family because my partner and I now have my own family with young (17-month-old) Albie.”
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Seems like AB selections have been personality based in recent years. Shooter is at least as dangerous as Jordan (maybe even better in the air) and they share the same mediocre defensive abilities but Shooter has always been publicly criticized for being defensively weak. Jordan gets a pass. Love is a first five playing fullback as is Perofeta and both need meaningful time in the position. I think our persistence with older players is based on a fallacy that if the player was good at some stage, he is must be better than newer players - despite being out-shone in head-to-heads in SRP. While we "can't keep them all" (and I wish Stevenson all the best - and riches - in Japan), I still feel he got a very short shot by AB selectors - while under the pressure of knowing they didn't believe in his abilities.
AB coaches seem to prefer known mediocrity over young raw talent.
Signed contracts seem to be regarded very lowly in NZ Rugby given how readily they are cancelled when players get a better offer. It would seem the opposite to Japan given how Mounga cant be brought home without serious money changing hands...We really are becoming a backwater.
The NZRU should require a fee to break contracts early.
Shawn Stevenson asks to break his contract and you blame NZR for not legally enforcing him to fulfill his contact?
You got it backwards mate
You can’t make a guy play his best rugby for you.
Will Jordan, Reuben Love, and Stephen Perofeta were all rated better fullbacks than Stevenson and the simple fact is NZR cannot afford to shell out big bucks for third or fourth choice players in their position.
I personally think that Jordan and Love are much better than Stephenson and he and Perofeta are a coin toss.