League wins top ABs for Sonny Bill

Sonny Bill Williams wears the smile of a man rekindling his first true love. His thoughts dwell not on the World Cup semifinal humbling he suffered with New Zealand three weeks ago, but on his impending and improbable reunion with rugby league.

‘‘SBW’’ is, by any gauge, a sporting polymath of the purest pedigree: he has lifted the Webb Ellis Cup twice, won two national titles in Australia in league, represented his country in sevens at the Rio Olympics, all while somehow becoming the Kiwis’ heavyweight boxing champion in only his fifth fight.

It is a stunning body of work, soon to be augmented with his debut for Toronto Wolfpack, in a deal worth NZ$10 million over two years.

Hopping between codes is a move fraught with danger, given how fiercely the disciples of league and union defend the honour of each. But Williams leaves no doubt, less than a month after forsaking the All Blacks for good, as to where his loyalties lie.

As we sit in London at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, where he has just been unveiled as Toronto’s marquee signing, I ask which of his achievements give him the deepest satisfaction.

‘‘My children,’’ he replies, without hesitation. ‘‘Easy. From a sporting point of view? I guess it would have to be the NRL championships that I was a part of – they were a bit more special than anything else. Growing up as a league man, you envisage those moments so much.

‘‘It has been an unbelievable journey to be an All Black. But when I hear some of the boys, like Sammy Cane, talk about the jersey and how much it means to them, I see the same in me when I was young – except that I was dreaming of playing in NRL.’’

One wonders how that remark will be received in New Zealand, where the All Blacks remain almost a state religion and where any questioning of their primacy is tantamount to heresy.

Williams, though, has learnt to deflect criticism. He faced enough of it in union – not least after the second test against the British and Irish Lions in 2017, when he became the first All Black to be sent off in 50 years – to develop the thickest hide.

"My faith has allowed me to push boundaries and step into the unknown,’’ he says. ‘‘But it has also allowed me to be comfortable with the man I look at in the mirror.’’

When it comes to poaching Williams, Toronto can scarcely believe their luck. In February, they will play their first Super League match as glamorous transatlantic interlopers, and they will do so boasting the most luminous star in the game.

‘‘To say it’s a monumental day for our franchise is clearly an understatement,’’ gushes chairman Bob Hunter, who wastes no time in equating Williams’s stature to that of

Sonny Bill Williams rates his sporting achievements

‘‘I guess it would have to be the NRL championships that I was a part of – they were a bit more special than anything else.’’

basketball icon LeBron James.

It is a parallel at which the player himself bristles.

‘‘I’m definitely not comfortable with that comparison,’’ Williams says. ‘‘I just seek to be me.’’

In a way, the hyperbolic talk that he can be the LeBron of league undersells him. True, he