All Blacks bosses must clip the wings of Sonny Rooster

STEVE HANSEN and Steve Tew are facing perhaps the biggest decision of their careers. In a week when upstanding men such as Kieran Read and Sam Whitelock have pledged allegiance to the All Blacks jersey for another four years, Sonny Rooster is playing his own game and this month it is league.

Someone needs to tell SBW, and preferably sooner rather than later, that you do not pick and choose when to become an All Black.

One could understand Williams’ return to league at the end of last season. He had given his word to the Roosters’ management that he would be back. But now that he has fulfilled his moral obligation, SBW cannot come and go without consequence.

A man who would prefer the blue jersey of an Aussie league club to the sacred black of his own country should not be included in Hansen’s plans for the 2015 World Cup.

Maybe Sonny Bill has been torn, and maybe his manager Khoder Nasser does not make promises he will not keep, but I suspect there is a covert cynicism behind all this indecision.

The commentary of the NRL grand final was studded with remarks like, ‘‘SBW, is this his last game of league?’’. Suddenly league’s showpiece was all about one man, the man who cannot make up his mind.

It is a shame that Neil Sorensen, the general manager professional rugby at the NZRU, did not tell SBW over lunch that his inclusion in the All Blacks World Cup squad could not happen unless he returned to union for the two years leading up to the main event.

That should have constituted a minimum preparation time for a man who was playing a different game.

‘‘Listen mate, it’s Sydney Rock or Bluff oysters, but you can’t stuff yourself on both. Shall we order?’’ Instead, all that the NZRU has got out of Sorensen’s trip to Sydney is a large expenses bill. How demeaning is that for this country’s national body.

How can it now say that one man isn’t bigger than the game?

The All Blacks jersey is revered globally. Stuart Lancaster has just proclaimed that he wants England to be more like New Zealand.

‘‘New Zealand have a strong emphasis on culture and identity,’’ Lancaster says.

‘‘The shirt means a huge amount to them. Playing for New Zealand is huge and the players are great role models for the country.

‘‘We have a lot of work to do in that area. Real emotional glue brings a team together. And we have tried to look deeper into the history of our shirt. I wrote to five or six former players from the 1950s onwards to help us reconnect with what the shirt means, about what it means to play for England.’’

LANCASTER has just returned from a visit to New Zealand, where he was doing reconnaissance work ahead of the autumn internationals. It wasn’t exactly undercover as he bumped into Ewen McKenzie and the whole Aussie squad at the airport.

He picked up some things from AFL and Aussie league and then Lancaster came to New Zealand, talked to coaches around the country and immersed himself in the rugby way of life.

‘‘You are watching an under-18 schools game and it is on their equivalent of Sky and there are 5000 watching it. You can see why it is in their blood.’’

It doesn’t seem to be in SBW’s blood. He says: ‘‘My intentions are to try to go back after next year and force my way into the All Black squad.’’ And in the next breath SBW said of his decision to stay with the Roosters, ‘‘I just went with my heart in the end.’’

Therefore his heart isn’t in the All Blacks right now. If Hansen picks him, what message does that send to all the kids who have stayed in New Zealand to pursue their dream of becoming an All Black.

Good people tell me that Sonny Bill is a decent bloke, but sooner or later a man has to be judged by his actions. SBW’s indecision has caused New Zealand rugby a lot of grief. His appalling about face over the rugby league World Cup devastated a young man called Tohu Harris, whose parents had already booked flights to Britain.

SBW says, ‘‘I’m sorry about taking someone else’s spot. I actually feel like shit to tell you the truth.’’ Those words are hollow. He is not sorry enough or feeling shit enough to act like a gentleman and not steal Harris’ place. Once SBW made his call to take a holiday, there should have been no going back.

Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney said, ‘‘It’s just a really tough situation but Sonny brings things to the group that we couldn’t ignore.’’ Like selfishness? The man is a very good rugby player, but he’s not a great one.

For the first 50 minutes of the grand final SBW was awful. Missed tackles, dropped balls and positional naivety cost his side two tries. For the final 30 minutes SBW was terrific, catching high balls and making line breaks. But consistency defines greatness. It is not the first time SBW has gone missing at the start of big games.

There was much beseeching of the heavens and turf kissing before and after the grand final. Was it for real? Is he for real? Is SBW a team man, a hard worker and a fine athlete or is he a selfish, prancing show pony?

Oddly, very oddly, SBW is all those things. He may even define all the goodness and rottenness of professional sport in 2013.

And from the All Blacks’ point of view, it is all just a bit too much.