New Zealand’s Nehe Milner-Skudder has decided to join French club Toulon at the conclusion of the upcoming Super Rugby season, ruling him out of next year’s World Cup in Japan. Milner-Skudder, who turns 28 on Saturday, has signed a three-year contract with Toulon, the French side said on Twitter.
Nouvelle vidéo les amis 🙂 WELCOME TO TOULON NEHE MILNER-SKUDDER !!! Vidéo : https://t.co/8RA4LWnTDb pic.twitter.com/3uRXazJGJq
— Sébastien RCT ?? (@SbastienRCT) December 13, 2018
The Wellington Hurricanes utility back was World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of The Year in 2015, when his All Blacks side won the World Cup, but has been blighted by shoulder and ankle injuries ever since. While All Blacks coach Steve Hansen continued to select Milner-Skudder, he fell further down the pecking order due to his injuries and a lack of game time. He suffered another shoulder injury in the All Blacks’ victory over Japan in Tokyo in November and was ruled out of the Maori All Blacks tour in South America.
The All Blacks have a policy of only selecting home-based players, meaning he will have no chance of playing at the World Cup.
Hansen said he had been in touch with Milner-Skudder and supported his decision.
“He was good enough to ring and explain to us so that’s all you can ask for. The first thing I asked him is have you thought about this? Have you thought about the time in the jersey? When they tell me they have, the only thing you can do is support them…Nehe hasn’t had much luck at all in the last probably two years, and he’s getting a bit older, so he’s probably starting to think I need to support my family and the money is good so I’m going to go. So, again, you support him and wish him all the best,” Hansen told reporters in Auckland on Friday, where he announced his own decision to step down after the global showpiece in Japan.
Milner-Skudder is the second 2015 World Cup winner to announce this week they are leaving New Zealand rugby next year after Ben Smith said he would join Pau.
