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Hadleigh Parkes' new Japanese club is confirmed

25 May 2020

Hadleigh Parkes is moving to the Japanese Top League.

Almost two weeks after his exit from Scarlets was confirmed, Hadleigh Parkes’ new club has been announced. The 32-year-old was one of eight players confirmed to leave the Welsh side in a recent statement, and was linked with a move to the Japanese Top League. Scarlets have now confirmed that Parkes will join Japanese side Panasonic Wild Knights.

Parkes was Scarlets player of the season in 2015-16 after playing every minute of every Guinness PRO12, and was a Pro12 title winner in 2017.

He qualified for Wales on residency and memorably scored two tries in a debut a victory over the Springboks in December 2017. His international career is now expected to be over.

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Scarlets announced that “Hadleigh will return to New Zealand with his wife Suzy and daughter Ruby before heading to the land of the rising sun.”

“It has been an incredible six seasons,” Parkes said.

“We have loved every moment of it both on and off the rugby field. We have made lifelong friends who have become like family to us.

“I have loved playing in front of the Scarlets faithful week in and week out. It is such a great club and winning the PRO12 title in 2017 was huge and great reward for all our loyal supporters.

“The Scarlets supporters have been amazing and some of the big European away trips have felt like home matches thanks to them following the team in their thousands. They are a proud bunch and I have loved being a Scarlet.

“As a family we have made the hard rugby decision to leave the country we have fallen in love with and to head to Japan where a new adventure awaits.

“It certainly wasn’t a quick or easy decision but when you have to weigh up your family’s future, it is an incredible opportunity for us and we are really excited about what lies ahead.

“As we get ready to leave Wales we would like to thank everyone that has played a part in our time here. Supporters, team-mates, management and all our friends have made our time here so special. It will be hard leaving.

“I would also like to thank Suzy for her continued support and for allowing me to follow my rugby dream — I’m excited about our next chapter.”

Scarlets general manager of rugby Jon Daniels said: “Hadleigh has been a fantastic servant to the Scarlets since arriving from New Zealand six years ago.

“He has played more than 120 matches for the club, was part of our title-winning side and has been a superb professional and role model.

Panasonic Wild Knights have today announced the signing of Scarlets & Wales centre Hadleigh Parkes. Hadleigh has been a fantastic servant to the Scarlets in the six years he has been here. We wish him, Suzy and Ruby well for the move to Japan 🇯🇵
Pob lwc Parkesy #diolch pic.twitter.com/hl12oTesjJ
— Scarlets Rugby (@scarlets_rugby) May 25, 2020

“We wish him, Suzy and Ruby well for the move to Japan.”

Parkes is not the only player swapping the UK for Japan.

Earlier on Monday, it was confirmed that long-serving Saracen George Kruis will also join the Panasonic Wild Knights.

Kruis leaves Saracens after 12 years, during which time he made 184 first-team appearances.

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CV 1 hour ago

'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Serin oozes class. He’d walk into any other test side. Then they also have Jauneau, Coly, Couilloud, Le Garrec… Six or so test level nines. At 10 they have Hastoy, Berdeu, Reus, Le Brun… At Toulouse they have 21 year old Valentin Delpy. He’s excellent too. The only position I see they have less depth in is tighthead prop. Haven’t been impressed with Colombe.

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SC 1 hour ago

'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Did Ireland beat the All Blacks after the 22 series?

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You need to give it the same amount of time then.

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Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 3 hours ago

'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Another solution would be to move the schedule a week later - there’s a month long break before the Rugby Championship so why would the NZRU schedule the first game in conflict with a major club final?

Once you remove the scheduling issue - it becomes purely about player welfare and that’s the French unions issue to deal with. The whole idea of becoming the best team is moot if you cede all your national power to a club competition.

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Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 4 hours ago

'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

You say that winning isnt about psychology and then cite the NZ teams that lost at world cups because they were fretting about choking. Psychology is absolutely part of a winning strategy - its the ability to know that you can come back from adversity because you have trust in the “weapons” that you talk about. Its the difference between chasing someone down or saying “I’m beaten" - there’s no point”

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J Marc 5 hours ago

'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Some very interesting points in your post.

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CO 5 hours ago

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RedWarriors 5 hours ago

'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Serin?

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RedWarriors 5 hours ago

'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

I am not really sure how this tour benefits France beyond showing NZ ways to beat them. They already know how to beat NZ.

Ireland won a series there in 2022 which prompted a year long shift in strategy to specifically beat Ireland. This was confirmed recently by Will Jordan.

Winning tight matches isn’t necessarily about psychology. It’s about having weapons to get over the line. For SA that was a scrum to win penalties and a kicker to either kick the penalty over or down the line if a try is needed. See SA v England in 2023 SF.

England used their jacklers to win penalties to get them deep into the 22 a couple of times late against France. Ireland improvised with drop kicks to win versus SA.

NZ spent decades fretting over choking in RWCs. Their strategy was often to develop such an outstanding team that pressure wouldn’t come into it. All they needed to do (France 99, 07) was to use some of their prep to learn how to neuter their opponents.