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'It was a tough time': The All Black who 'had' to leave New Zealand
At just 25 years of age, one-Test All Black Brett Cameron left New Zealand to pursue an opportunity with Japanese club Kamaishi Seawaves.
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But the playmaker didn’t want to leave New Zealand, he just “had” to.
Cameron had enjoyed a promising start to his professional career with Canterbury and the Crusaders, before making a shock debut for the All Blacks in 2018.
While his selection in the No. 22 jersey came as a surprise to many – including Cameron himself – it was a clear indication of his potential.
But opportunities to impress at Super Rugby level still proved hard to come by.
Champion Crusader Richie Mo’unga had made the No. 10 jersey his own down south, as he continued to showcase his brilliance on the field.
Instead, Cameron was made to watch from the sidelines.
Three years after his All Blacks debut, the flyhalf left the Crusaders at the end of the 2021 season.
While the first-five went on to impress with Manawatu in the NPC, Cameron failed to secure a Super Rugby deal with any of the NZ franchises after leaving the Crusaders.
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“It was a little bit of a weird time for me, finishing up down south and didn’t have a lot come up that year,” Cameron told RugbyPass.
“That opportunity to go overseas was something that wasn’t my first choice, but something I had to do at that time.
“My intention was always to come back and play NPC, and hopefully get back into Super Rugby from there.
“It was a tough time but I guess teams all have their players that are signed up for a couple of years.
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“I had to take it as it comes and it gave me a bit of fuel for that season of NPC where I had a move to Manawatu.
“That was good in a way, it allowed me to express myself and then do the same thing overseas.”
After moving back to his home province of Manawatu, Cameron was praised for his scintillating form in the No. 10 jersey.
Champion halfback Bryn Hall told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod that the first-five was playing the “best rugby of his career” after leading Manawatu to the Championship semi-finals.
But the decision was done, and the contract had been signed.
By the time Super Rugby teams came knocking, the Whanganui-born talent had already put pen to paper with Kamaishi for the inaugural Japan Rugby League One campaign.
But in July last year, New Zealand Rugby confirmed that Cameron had signed on to play for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby Pacific in 2023.
Cameron is expected to challenge for the starting spot at first-five, if not make that jersey his own, this season.
While he’s focused on playing “Super footy again” for his home region, Cameron spoke about his desire to don the coveted black jersey once again.
“I definitely think that when you’re playing in New Zealand, everyone wants to be an All Black,” he added
“It’s definitely something that everyone’s striving for here. That’d be awesome to build on that but just stoked to be playing Super footy again.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”
Cameron will miss the Hurricanes’ trip across the ditch to start their season, having torn his calf in their preseason clash against the Blues.
As reported earlier this week, the Hurricanes are also set to be without rising star Ruben Love.
The Hurricanes begin their season with a blockbuster against the Queensland Reds in Townsville on Saturday, before playing the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby Round the following week.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments