"Terrific player" but coach coy on ex-All Black's Warriors return

By Alex Powell

Warriors coach Andrew Webster has tempered any talk of a rugby league return for former All Blacks midfielder Ngani Laumape.

Laumape, 31, began his career in rugby league in 2013 and made 30 appearances for the Warriors in three seasons after coming through the club’s juniors programme.

In 2016, he successfully switched codes to play for Manawatū and the Hurricanes, which led to an All Blacks debut in 2017 against the British and Irish Lions.

But in 2022, Laumape signed a contract with French side Stade Francais on a deal reported to have been worth $1 million per season only to switch to Japan’s Rugby League One after just one season.

That overseas move ended any chances of Laumape representing the All Blacks while based abroad.

However, with Japan currently in its off-season, Laumape has returned home to New Zealand and visited his former NRL side as they prepared for last week’s victory over the Wests Tigers. And in a post to the Warriors’ social media accounts on Monday, Laumape made it clear he’s willing to return.

“I came back and watched [the] captain’s run and it definitely lit a little fire to finish off what I started,” he was quoted as saying. “So we’ll never know what will happen.

“Hopefully my agent can get some stuff sorted. I’d like to come back.

Current coach Webster is no stranger to what Laumape is capable of.

The two worked together in Webster’s first stint at the Warriors when he was an assistant coach to Andrew McFadden – who coincidentally is now the club’s recruitment manager.

But asked about a potential return for the 15-test All Black, Webster outlined that there is nothing in the pipeline to bring Laumape back to Mt Smart.

“[He’s a] terrific player, I’ve seen him play for the All Blacks,” said Webster. “Obviously he transitioned really well back into rugby.

“Quality players, we’ll explore it all, but I’ve not had one conversation with him around coming back and playing.

“He came to our training session the other day, on captain’s run we embrace all our ex-players. He just happens to be an ex-player that’s still active and playing rugby – union or league.

“His comments have blown things out of proportion a little bit, but we’re interested in all quality athletes that want to come and play for the Warriors.”

Any return for Laumape could prove problematic for the Warriors under the NRL’s salary cap regulations.

Even after shedding the $1m per season that Addin Fonua-Blake earns, the Warriors have still managed to lure Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris to the club, as well as re-sign hooker Wayde Egan and prop Mitchell Barnett to new deals.

Given the size of rugby contracts in Japan, where all teams are privately owned by corporations, and given his age, Laumape would also likely be forced to take a pay cut if he were to return to New Zealand.

In his first stint at the Warriors, playing across the centres and the wing, Laumape scored 11 tries in 30 appearances.

At Super Rugby level, he played 85 times for the Hurricanes, scoring 49 tries and winning the franchise’s only title in 2016, his first year there. For the All Blacks, his 15 tests yielded eight tries.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission