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TJ Perenara opens up on 'challenging' decision facing All Blacks ahead of Rugby Championship
All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara has opened up about the “challenges” of potentially leaving his young family for over two months to play in Australia.
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All Blacks players will have to leave their families behind for up to 10 weeks, including quarantine periods, to play in the Rugby Championship set to be played in New South Wales after the All Blacks’ first two tests of the year against the Wallabies in New Zealand next month. A third Bledisloe test will also be played in Queensland ahead of the four-team tournament.
Speaking after Wellington’s convincing 39-21 victory over Auckland on Sunday, a frank Perenara said it would be difficult to leave his wife and newborn daughter, as well as his Mitre 10 Cup side, to play for the All Blacks.
“Leaving will be hard for a number of reasons,” Perenara said. “Getting amongst te kapa ? raiona (roughly translated to ‘the group of lions’) for the last couple of weeks has been awesome. Built some great friendships within the environment and then also leaving my wife and baby for the next little while will be hard.”
Perenara and his wife Greer welcomed their first baby daughter last month. Several other All Blacks also face the prospect of leaving their young families to play across the Tasman.
“It will have its challenges,” Perenara added. “It’s not an easy situation for anyone regardless if you have families or not.
“But leaving my wife and my young daughter will be a difficult situation, although I am excited about the opportunity to be in the All Blacks environment. It’s always an honour and a privilege to be selected in that team and be in that environment with the best players in the world.”
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Perenara’s All Blacks teammate Richie Mo’unga, who also welcomed his first child last month, has already hit out at a suggestion from one media outlet that some All Blacks were considering pulling out of this year’s Rugby Championship for family reasons.
Beauden Barrett, who is expecting his first child with wife Hannah, also addressed the issue but wasn’t definitive about his availability either, saying there’s still “a lot of water to go under the bridge” around the Rugby Championship.
As All Blacks say goodbye to their Mitre 10 Cup sides to prepare for the Bledisloe Cup this week, Perenara said getting back into the team environment will be a good chance to have discussions about leaving their young families for a long period.
“Now that we go into All Blacks camps it’s a really good period to have those discussions as a family, those discussions as a team within the All Blacks environment to develop those skills to make sure that all the boys who have been in a similar situation have the tools and the support systems around us to make sure the transition or that period of time is as easy as possible,” he said.
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“It’s not going to be easy, it’s simple as that, but make sure it’s as easy as possible. That’s what I think this next little while is going to be really important to build those strategies.”
We know it, you know it… But does Ian Foster know it? #CANvTAR #RanfurlyShield @Mitre10Cup #AllBlackshttps://t.co/xSCSofkVBk
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 20, 2020
Meanwhile, Peranara also spoke about the “pressure” he puts on himself while playing with the Wellington Lions, saying it’s similar to the intensity of an All Blacks test.
“Personally I think playing club rugby to playing a test match, to me, I feel the same pressure. Media might build hype, there might be hype within a game it might be a final or a big game, but I genuinely believe the pressure I put on myself outweighs the pressure you guys can put on me.
“The pressure a game can put on me because I expect to play good each and every game regardless of what’s on the line.
“If it’s a pre-season game for Norths or a World Cup final, my expectations for myself to perform at the highest level each and every time is the same.”
Wellington bounced back from their disappointing defeat to Waikato on the first week of the Mitre 10 Cup to claim an impressive win over Auckland over the weekend.
However, the provincial sides will have to continue without their All Blacks stars as Ian Foster’s men gather in Whakat?ne today to begin preparation for their first test against the Wallabies.
Comments on RugbyPass
No question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
95 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
95 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
95 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
95 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
95 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
95 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
95 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
95 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
95 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
95 Go to commentsHonestly, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. RSA has a ton of experienced talent in its leadership group. I am more interested in who is the new 8 man/8 men and the younger props. The captain may change but the system does not
1 Go to commentsBen, you are one of the most arrogant and self opionated rugby critics I have ever come across (next to Keohane). I hoped that after SA beating the best ranked teams in the world on their way to the WC (something not done before) that you might have the grace to admit that this is a special team that deserved the accolades coming their way. You have no humility and as has been been already pointed out, merely a troll to attract audience numbers. Count me out in the future.
95 Go to comments‘War of independence’. Such a grand name for a few skirmishes. Where were all the great battles of this ‘war’ ? Smith got goosebumps as he was being emotionally manipulated, another mushroom.
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