NZ Rugby

The 34-year-old has played 74 Tests since his debut in 2012 and more than 120 games for the Hurricanes.

He said he was never going to play for another Super Rugby team and is looking forward to trying to trying to extend his All Blacks career.

"I'm so grateful to be playing the game I love, and grateful for the opportunity to continue with the Hurricanes and New Zealand Rugby. The Hurricanes have been loyal to me, I'm a 'one club' man, so to continue my career with them will be awesome.

Earlier this week, New Zealand Rugby announced that Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua were given conditional licences to join a new Super Rugby competition from next year.

Ex-All Blacks great Sir Michael Jones described the move as “a real groundbreaking moment in the journey for Pacific rugby”, but Turinui was sceptical of the benefits for the likes of Manu Samoa and Tonga at international level.

“To put it simply, Moana Pasifika look to be another NZ franchise who will funnel players through to the All Blacks,” Turinui wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Many of the Pacific Islands‘ brightest stars have been hoovered up by the likes of Australia and New Zealand for many years, while even the northern hemisphere nations have done the same in recent years.

Independent not-for-profit players association Pacific Rugby Welfare posted hypothetical teams for the three Pacific Island nations, which are made up of players who could have represented Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Planning for the mooted six-week competition had continued between New Zealand Rugby, Rugby Australia and Sanzaar with hopes that a trans-Tasman travel bubble would open in time.

"Today's news gives us even greater confidence to push forward with our plans and provides certainty to our teams, fans and stakeholders," New Zealand Rugby said in a statement.

Super Rugby Trans-Tasman would follow on from the conclusion of the Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU competitions.

Josh Ioane, Marino Mikaele-Tu’u, Sio Tomkinson, Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Sione Misiloi and Daniel Lienert-Brown have all been declared available for selection after being stood down by coach Tony Brown last week for disciplinary reasons.

Lienert-Brown is still recovering from a broken arm, but the availability of regular starters Ioane, Mikaele-Tu’u and Tomkinson will increase Brown's options for Saturday's crucial game.

New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern is expected to announce at 4pm on Tuesday a potential date for the opening of a travel bubble with Australia.

Currently, there is only quarantine-free travel from New Zealand to Australia and not the other way round.

The five-week Super Rugby trans-Tasman competition is scheduled to kick off on May 14 in Dunedin when the Highlanders host Queensland, with the five teams from each country squaring off each week.

Tony Philp, New Zealand Rugby’s high performance sevens manager, is hoping May is the return date for New Zealand’s men’s and women’s sevens teams’ comeback to the international game.

Neither team have played in an international tournament since the Covid-19 pandemic halted their respective World Series last March.

Clarke is among a small pool of Super Rugby players eyeing an Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in July, but their commitment to Super Rugby Aotearoa means they’re not training under coach Clark Laidlaw with the men’s sevens team for the meantime.

World Rugby is investing 12.4 million dollars in a three-tier tournament from 2023 which will help improve depth ahead of the expanded 16-team World Cup in 2025.

New Zealand would take part in a cross-regional tournament featuring Oceania and North American teams in June with the top three then joining the top three Eurpoean teams in a global event in September-October.

Cate Sexton, New Zealand Rugby's head of women's rugby development, says that sort of commitment would warrant contracting players.

The tournament will be held in Taupō in April and effectively double as a trial for New Zealand under-20 selection.

Although the World Rugby Under 20 Championship that was due to be held in Italy in June and July has been cancelled, it is still hoped that an Oceania tournament will happen this year.

Ozich's involvement with the Highlanders follows an outstanding campaign with the Magpies in 2020, when he bolstered his reputation as a coach on the rise.

The 35 Williams has told Nine News in Sydney that he now wants to focus on becoming a world champion boxer.

Williams finishes his NRL career having played 123 first grade games between the Bulldogs and Roosters, with premiership wins at both clubs in 2004 and 2013.

He will however continue to be involved with the Roosters in a mentoring role.

Williams played 58 times for the All Blacks.