Read nears decision day

All Blacks captain Kieran Read is close to revealing where in the world he’ll play his club rugby after his expected departure following the 2019 World Cup.

Read is tipped for a big money move to Japan with Toyota Verblitz, coached by former Springboks boss Jake White, understood to be frontrunners. Paris club Racing 92 seemed a possible destination at the end of last year, but talks look to have broken down.

An announcement on Read’s future could come sooner rather than later, he said yesterday at a promotional event for today’s Black Clash T20 cricket match. The 33-year-old will return to his first love cricket, captaining Team Rugby against Team Cricket at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval (4.15pm start).

‘‘Very soon I think you’ll get that answer. So hopefully in the next few weeks.’’

Read is embarking on his final year in New Zealand Rugby, but has been given an extended break and will miss the first month of Super Rugby for the Crusaders.

He is also expected to sit out a further two mandatory weeks for the All Blacks later in the campaign as NZR seek to keep their leading players fresh for the World Cup in Japan.

The Crusaders’ fifth match is against the Highlanders at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium on March 16 and Read said that loomed as a possible return date.

‘‘I think with Razor [Crusaders coach Scott Robertson] I’m having the first few weeks off and then basically come back in from there.

Read, who has played 118 tests since his debut in 2008, has the chance to achieve a rare third successive title in 2019 with both the Crusaders in Super Rugby and the All Blacks at the World Cup. He was slow to start last year after returning from spinal surgery in December 2017 and it wasn’t until the end of the year, where he finally felt himself. He was better placed to begin 2019 and said he was ‘‘pretty much 100 per cent’’.