(Repeats with no changes)
MELBOURNE, July 8 (Reuters) – Sonny Bill Williams will put
his All Blacks career on hold to return to rugby league after a
stint playing in Japan, Australian media reported on Sunday.
The muscular New Zealand centre had signed a lucrative deal
to play with Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan’s Top League and
was also poised to announce a deal with the Sydney Roosters in
Australia’s top-flight National Rugby League (NRL), Sydney’s
Daily Telegraph newspaper said.
The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), who coaxed Williams home
from Europe in 2010 with the lure of an All Blacks jersey for
the World Cup, declined to comment on the report, but said they
had scheduled a news conference in Hamilton on Monday with the
26-year-old and All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster.
Williams, 26, played one season with the Canterbury-based
Crusaders in the southern hemisphere Super Rugby competition
last year before crossing to the Chiefs this season.
Chiefs coaches Dave Rennie and Wayne Smith would also appear
at the news conference, the NZRU said.
Dual international Williams began his professional career
playing rugby league for the Sydney-based Canterbury Bulldogs in
the NRL but controversially walked out on the team mid-season in
2008 to play rugby union with French club Toulon.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Patrick Johnston)
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