Read tipped to join Racing 92 after Cup

Kieran Read is close to agreeing a seven-month contract to play with Racing 92 after next year’s World Cup, according to reports from France.

French newspaper L’Equipe has reported English and Japanese clubs have been chasing the All Blacks captain and are prepared to outbid Racing 92 or any other French club.

However, Read appears keen to test himself in France after the World Cup and it has been reported that a compromised short-term deal is close to being agreed.

Read told the Herald last month that he will bring down the curtain on his long and illustrious All Blacks career after the tournament in Japan next year.

Read, who turned 33 in October, is almost certain he’ll be taking up an overseas contract. What he has not sorted out yet is where he will be going.

Read and wife Bridget have three young children and have always wanted an overseas experience for their family.

They want to have it before their children get too far into their schooling and 2020 is seen as the perfect time.

By that stage, Read will be 34 and will have completed his third World Cup — having been part of the victorious teams in 2011 and 2015.

He’ll have played close to 50 tests as captain, been World Player of the Year in 2013, won Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders and played in a British and Irish Lions series.

There will be no major goal left and it’s not realistic to imagine he could push on through to 2023.

So the time will be right to follow in the footsteps of Daniel Carter, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith, who all retired from the All Blacks after the last World Cup at the same age Read will be next year and took up offshore contracts.

“Yeah, I have,” Read told the Herald about whether he had thought about what he will do after next year’s World Cup.

“So for me, I think it probably won’t be in New Zealand. We’ve always thought as a family that we’d like to go overseas and use that experience for the kids. That’s probably the main option at the moment.”

The prospect of retiring from all rugby has ventured on to his radar but he says that’s not a preference.

If his body holds up — and he says he’s feeling strong and comparatively fresh — he would rather eke out one or two more seasons, most likely in Europe.

“That [retirement] is an option as well,” says Read. “There are plenty of options out there but I probably want to keep playing if I can. It’s 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 it wrapped up before the start of the season because then you can give 100 per cent because you know what you will be doing.”

Confirmation Read will almost certainly be stepping down from his role as All Blacks captain will inevitably intensify the career planning of Sam Whitelock as he takes a break leading into next season.

Whitelock will be favoured to succeed Read as the long-term captain, having stood in for him in five tests since November last year.

But Whitelock is also off contract after the 2019 World Cup and while he is contemplating a four-year recommitment to New Zealand through to the 2023 World Cup, he is also discussing the prospect of a playing sabbatical in Japan as part of the negotiation.

That option may be hard for New Zealand Rugby to grant if Whitelock is the next All Blacks captain and instead agreement could be reached he take a non-playing break with a view to start the process of grooming his successor.

The All Blacks have successfully worked captaincy succession plans

I hope to have it wrapped up before the start of the season because then you can give 100 per cent. All Blacks captain Kieran Read

since 2004, when Richie McCaw skippered the team against Wales before taking over permanently from Tana Umaga in 2006.

Read first captained the All Blacks in 2012, doing so another eight times before he succeeded McCaw in 2016. An extended break for Whitelock would allow an opportunity for his likely successor to gain invaluable experience.

But Read and Whitelock were not the only All Blacks considering a move to an overseas club.

Last month, Midi Olympique reported Ben Smith had signed a sevenmonth contract with Pau which would start after the World Cup.

Pau were also interested in All Blacks flanker Ardie Savea, who has been linked with a move overseas for a while now.

The French paper also reported that big spenders Toulon were in talks with Hurricanes outside back Nehe Milner-Skudder and Crusaders centre Ryan Crotty.

Last month, first-five Beauden Barrett also spoke for the first time about a potential move to Japan after next year’s World Cup, while lock Brodie Retallick has also signalled a similar interest.