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'I offer something in the midfield that no other midfielder can offer': Ngani Laumape parting shot hits the mark ahead of farewell match

(Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

Sometimes, gauging a player’s emotions and feelings on a matter can be as much about what isn’t said.

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Ahead of Ngani Laumape’s final home game with the Hurricanes, the All Blacks midfielder was exceptionally candid when speaking to media regarding his impending move off-shore.

“I just want to be happy again playing footy,” he said. “The last couple of years, I’ve always loved being in the Hurricanes environment and I’ve always thrived in the Hurricanes environment.”

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Who will fill the midfield for the All Blacks in Ngani Laumape’s absence?

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Who will fill the midfield for the All Blacks in Ngani Laumape’s absence?

Laumape, however, was left disappointed when it came time to negotiate his new contract with New Zealand Rugby.

It was reported earlier this year that Laumape wasn’t offered any significant increase on his prior deal – ostensibly because he hadn’t become the regular All Black that many had expected.

On Wednesday, however, Laumape confirmed that he in fact was offered a lesser contract than what he’d previously been playing under. That made his decision to look elsewhere easy.

“It’ll be pretty sad to leave but I know it’s the best thing for me and my family and the future of my family and kids,” he said. “It wasn’t hard [to make a decision] when I was offered a contract that was asking me to take less in income. Once that had come into perspective, I had to make the best decision for me and my kids.”

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And while the move to Stade Francais may come at the perfect time for the 28-year-old, that didn’t make the low-ball offer he received from NZR any easier to stomach.

“Yeah definitely [it was surprising],” he said. “It is what it is.

“Yeah I’m pretty disappointed because I think I offer something in the midfield that no other midfielder can offer in New Zealand.

“At the end of the day, it’s a business. They did what they had to do and for me, I have to do what’s best for me and my family and my kids. There’s no hard feelings. I understand it is what it is.”

Laumape also confirmed that he has no intentions of returning to New Zealand to try earn a spot in the All Blacks in the future – Friday night will be his last hurrah.

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“I’m not going to think about coming back,” he revealed. “I’m going there and all I’m thinking is to finish my career overseas and enjoy what overseas has to offer for me and my family and my kids.

“To be honest, I’m just going over there and just [going to] rip into it.”

And while Laumape was quick to praise the Hurricanes environment, he didn’t seem to harbour the same passion for the All Blacks – and the second five-eighth had to pause when asked whether he still loved playing rugby.

“Yeah, I’m always going to love playing footy,” he eventually acknowledged. “But like I said, for me it’s just about doing the best thing for me and my kids and my partner.

“Every year for me in the Hurricanes environment has been amazing. They’ve treated me and my family awesome. I always thrive when I’m in the Hurricanes environment because there’s such a good bunch of group of lads and stuff.”

While Laumape hasn’t yet settled on a departure date, the 28-year-old is looking forward to going out with a bang on Friday night and, once he and his family touches down in France, playing the game he loves without having to deal with the “outside noise”.

“For me, I’ll just worry about Friday night and trying to get the best performance I can for the brothers and leave on a good note,” he said. “It’s the last hurrah, as you say, and I’m in front of a great bunch of supporters in Wellington that have shown nothing but love towards me so for me, I just need to go out there and do my job to the best of my abilities.”

The Hurricanes take on the Reds at 7:05pm NZT from SKY Stadium in Wellington.

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J
JW 42 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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