Captain Read to quit All Blacks after World Cup

Second string rugby superpower hammer Japan in Tokyo

All Blacks captain Kieran Read is likely to quit international rugby after next year’s World Cup in Japan and take a contract overseas, the loose forward said.

Read, who turned 33 last week, will line up for his third World Cup next year after helping the All Blacks raise the Webb Ellis trophy in 2011 and 2015. “So for me I think it probably won’t be in New Zealand,” Read told New Zealand media of his post-Japan plans.

“We have always thought as a family that we would like to go overseas and use that experience for the kids. That is probably the main option at the moment.

“(Retirement) is an option as well,” he added. “There are plenty of options out there but I probably want to keep playing if I can. It is the experience for the kids that will be the main thing and it has to work for us as a family.

“I hope to have (plans) wrapped up before the start of (next) season because then you can give 100 per cent because you know what you will be doing.”

Fly-half Richie Mo’unga, meanwhile, sparked a second-string All Blacks side to a 69-31 victory over plucky Japan in Tokyo yesterday.

Mo’unga scored a try and went eight-from-nine with the boot in a sparkling 22-point display for the world champions, who ran in 10 tries against the 2019 World Cup hosts.

Ngani Laumape bagged a hat-trick of tries, while George Bridge marked his All Blacks debut with a pair after coming on at the start of the second half.