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'I feel I need to earn the right to pull on the Black jersey again'
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Liam Squire has opened up on why he turned down the All Blacks, saying he didn’t feel “physically or mentally” ready for the pressures of test rugby.
Squire made himself unavailable for the All Blacks during the Rugby Championship, and after a phone call with All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, also decided he wasn’t ready to be selected in the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup squad, which was named yesterday.
The loose forward, who would likely start at No 6 for the All Blacks if ready and available, said he would be available as an injury replacement if he’s performing well enough, but revealed on Instagram his reasons for turning down a place in the initial 31-man squad.
“After what has been a really tough year for me mentally and physically, and after speaking with people I trust on whether I should make myself available again for the All Blacks, I felt I wasn’t ready just yet physically or mentally for the pressures of test match rugby,” Squire wrote.
“I feel I need to earn the right to pull on the Black jersey again through performing well for my beloved Tasman Mako and keep ticking the boxes there.
“As Steve said yesterday, if the All Blacks do get injuries, and I’m performing well enough, then I’m 100% available. The decision has been bloody hard but I feel it’s the best one for me and the All Blacks. I wish the team every success and am behind them 100%.
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“I have never been one to speak a lot publicly so I hope people can respect my privacy and decision on this and I can move forward and keep enjoying my rugby.
“For me mental health is a lot more important than playing rugby.”
Hansen didn’t go into much detail on the private conversation he had with Squire surrounding the World Cup, but earlier in the year, when the Highlanders flanker ruled himself out of the Rugby Championship, he said it was a “courageous” decision.
“Mate, I don’t think I’m ready to play international football,” Hansen recalled of their conversation.
“I said ‘okay’, and we had a bit of a chat about that which I won’t repeat. At the end of it we agreed and I said ‘righto, that’s a pretty courageous conversation, well done, you get back on the park and play some footy and we’ll make a decision from there’.”
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Squire, who has played 23 tests for the All Blacks, had earlier this season been a late withdrawal from the Highlanders’ clash against the Jaguares – and their resulting tour of South Africa – with what coach Aaron Mauger described as “personal family issues”.
That followed a rough run of injuries, which kept Squire out of Super Rugby for the majority of the season. A hip injury sidelined him for the opening month, and just as he was back into full training, he tore the medial ligament in his knee.
He returned to the Highlanders in time for the playoffs, putting in a superb performance in their playoff-clinching win over the Waratahs, but was then yellow carded in their eventual quarter-final loss to the Crusaders.
Recently, Squire has shined while playing for Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup.
If Squire is to return to the All Blacks environment as an injury replacement at the Rugby World Cup, it would be his final games in the black jersey, having signed a two-year deal to join Japanese club NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes after the Cup.
The only other recent example of a player denying the selectors the chance to pick him in a black jersey is Brad Thorn, a lock who became an All Black great for his toughness and exploits during, among other tests, the 2011 World Cup final.
Thorn went from league in Australia to the Canterbury NPC team in 2001 and was picked for the All Blacks’ end of year tour but pulled out due to his uncertainty at whether he was fully committed to rugby union.
He ended up playing 59 tests for the All Blacks from 2003-11.
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
29 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments