Read will call time on All Blacks after Japan World Cup

ALL BLACKS captain Kieran Read says he will bring down the curtain on his long and illustrious All Blacks career at the World Cup in Japan next year.

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

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,” he says about whether he has 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 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.”

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 try to eke out one or two more seasons and it will most likely be somewhere 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.

“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 that Read is almost certainly going to be stepping down from his role as All Blacks captain will inevitably intensify the career planning of Sam Whitelock when he returns to New Zealand after this tour.

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

But Whitelock is also off contract after the 2019 World Cup and is contemplating a sabbatical in Japan.