Tuivasa-Sheck: I know I’ll have to earn that All Blacks jersey
ROGER Tuivasa-Sheck says it would be disrespectful of him to expect to march straight into the All Blacks, while the good money is on him joining the Blues.
The Warriors captain confirmed yesterday that 2021 would be his last season in the NRL and he would be chasing his dream to play rugby next year. Given all Tuivasa-Sheck has achieved in the 13-man code, it is inevitable there will be expectations that he will make it into the All Blacks.
But the 27-year-old fullback said it would be wrong for him to think he would be able to march straight into the team.
‘‘I have been getting a lot of people saying I am going to the All Blacks but that is disrespectful to a brand like that,’’ TuivasaSheck said.
‘‘My whole thing is just to go back and play rugby. You don’t just walk into a brand like the All Blacks, you have got to earn your way in.
‘‘First is just having a crack at it and, like I said, I grew up playing rugby.’’
However, it is not every day that a player as gifted as TuivasaSheck becomes available to the All Blacks’ coaches and, as was the case when Sonny Bill Williams made himself eligible, it is probably a matter of when, rather than if, he gets the callup.
Tuivasa-Sheck is committed to the Warriors for all of this year’s campaign and although there is a Rugby League World Cup in England in October and November, it does not appear to be on his radar.
‘‘That is not even in discussion,’’ Tuivasa-Sheck said.
‘‘I am just focused on the Warriors and what I can do with this club and even try to make my conditioning times tomorrow.’’
If the Warriors don’t finish the season in the top eight, they will play their last game on September 5.
That could give him time to play some provincial rugby and then get called up for the All Blacks’ end-of-season tour of Italy, France and Ireland.
He may want to avoid making the same mistake Benji Marshall did, with the half throwing himself straight in at Super Rugby level and looking out of place.
However, Tuivasa-Sheck has plenty of experience in rugby, playing the game before he was snapped up by the Roosters when a teenager. Tuivasa-Sheck was reluctant to talk about his rugby plans on yesterday’s Zoom conference but his manager, Bruce Sharrock, confirmed that an announcement would be coming soon.
‘‘Hopefully by the conclusion of next week, we will be in a much better position to answer your questions.’’
Sharrock said he would have preferred it if Tuivasa-Sheck’s code switch had not come out in the media when it did. Because of this, the details of his contract with New Zealand Rugby have not been finalised.
‘‘It is just a little bit premature. And I think at the end of the day, the way it broke was disappointing, because we are not that far away,’’ he said.
‘‘But it would be wrong of me to come out and say something before things are done.
‘‘As a principle, I do not like to comment on personal employment issues before they become real. So, we are not quite there yet but we had to do today because speculation was rife, so we wanted to put that part to bed, at least.’’
Everything points towards Tuivasa-Sheck joining the Blues for his Super Rugby and Sharrock hinted that this was the most likely outcome.
‘‘I am a betting man,’’ Sharrock said. ‘‘He is an Auckland boy, that would be a good bet. But nothing is done till it is done in this game; I have been doing it for a long, long time,.
‘‘And it is not the only boat in the race, so to speak. But that is possibly the oil.
‘‘Roger has got a family, it has got to work for him as well, so he is not about to uproot and go somewhere else.’’