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Report: All Blacks halfback headed to Japan Rugby League One

TJ Perenara of the New Zealand All Blacks during the International Test Match between New Zealand All Blacks and England at Forsyth Barr Stadium on July 06, 2024 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Recalled All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara looks set for his second stint in Japan according to a report by Liam Napier of the New Zealand Herald.

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The 32-year-old had his first stint in Japan in 2021 for the NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes before returning to New Zealand and Super Rugby with the Hurricanes.

Having successfully returned from an Achilles injury suffered in late 2022, Perenara returned to vintage form this season and was the first-choice No 9 for the All Blacks to open the season against England.

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But having been a long term servant to New Zealand Rugby, Perenara looks set to head back to the land of the rising run with the Black Rams Tokyo at the end of the year according to the report.

Neither party has confirmed the move but it would draw an end to an illustrious career which includes a World U20 Championship in 2011, a Rugby World Cup win in 2015, a Super Rugby title in 2015, among other highlights.

Perenara has the current Super Rugby Pacific try scorer record with 63 in his 163 caps for the Hurricanes, one ahead of Moana Pasifika centre and ex-Hurricanes teammate Julian Savea.

Without another season with the Hurricanes, Perenara’s record could be under threat, but he will leave the Hurricanes as the most capped player in the club’s history.

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With the All Blacks he has 81 Test caps and will be sure to add to that number after being named in the squad for the Rugby Championship.

 

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Comments

6 Comments
M
MattJH 112 days ago

Legend, hope nothing but awesome times awaits him. All Blacks are transitioning from foster-razor eras, TJ has no doubt seen the future talent and grabbed top dollar while he can.

A
AM 112 days ago

Thank you TJ for entertaining us on the field for Norths, Wellington, the Hurricanes and The All Blacks! May the good Lord Bless you and your anau on your future endeavours. Nga mihi Meitaki ra!

A
Andrew Nichols 112 days ago

Goodo. Just seeing the future for the ABs which is Roigard,Ratima and Hotham. Avoids the hurt of being dropped.

d
dk 112 days ago

All the best to TJ. I hope he earns a truckload. He’ll leave with our halfback stocks looking very healthy.

F
Forward pass 112 days ago

Absolute quality player and he has seen NZ’s 9 stocks rise considerably now so is off to make some retirement money. Good luck to him in future.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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