Ma’a Nonu ‘I want to be an AB again’
Ma’a Nonu made the surprisingly frank admission that he still covets an All Blacks jersey in his first chat with the media since resigning with the Blues late last year.
The 36-year-old, 103-test double World Cup-winning All Black returned to New Zealand rugby after a near four-year absence playing for Toulon in France and revealed the motivations that drive him in 2019 as he gets set to run out in Super Rugby for the first time since 2015.
The powerful midfielder, of course, has nothing left to prove at the highest level, having been an important cog in the back-toback World Cup triumphs in 2011 and ‘15 and, alongside Conrad Smith, forming arguably the greatest centre pairing in the country’s proud test history. His entry into the centurion’s club is testimony to the prolonged nature of his excellence at the top of the game.
But he concedes he remains motivated to perform at the highest levels and also has unfinished business in Super Rugby where he has not always been able to produce the level of rugby he has in the black jersey.
Asked yesterday whether being an All Black again in 2019 was a motivating goal, Nonu did not look to dodge the question.
His condition has been the talk of the Blues this pre-season, and it appears he is not about to sell himself short now.
‘‘I think it’s there on everyone’s minds,’’ he said of the prospect of an unlikely resumption to his test career. ‘‘For me it’s trying to make the Blues team first, so one step at a time.’’
That first stride down the path will take place at Eden Park on Saturday night when these reshaped Blues open their season against back-to-back champions the Crusaders.
Nonu looks set to start in the midfield, possibly alongside TJ Faiane.
He was not keen, though, to expand on what playing at a fourth World Cup, and bidding for an unprecedented hat-trick of titles, would mean to him.
‘‘All I’m thinking about is lunch right now and this game this week (against the Crusaders), so I can’t really tell you,’’ he said.
And, no, he has not spoken to All Blacks coach Steve Hansen yet this season. Those conversations might come later, if Nonu manages to produce the form that returns him to national team contention.
But Nonu did concede he had things still to prove in Super Rugby that were also big motivators for him this season.
‘‘Yeah, I haven’t won a Super Rugby title before, have come up short twice, and played in a lot of semifinals for the Hurricanes. It’s another driver this year,’’ he said.