All Black star Jeff Wilson has hinted strongly that he will return to rugby in next season's Super 12.
The 27-year-old called a halt to his rugby career after this year's competition because his mind was not on the sport which he had graced at test level since his three-try debutagainst Scotland in 1993.
"I got frustrated - cynical about a game that I loved to play - so if that is the case, I thought I should take time out," he said.
Wilson revealed some of his thoughts on TV3's 20/20 programme last night, in a preview of his biography Jeff Wilson - Seasons of Gold, which is released this week.
Wilson said that asking players to be involved in 35 pressure matches each year was too much - "no one can get emotionally up for that."
When he quit in May, he was struggling with that, the demands of sponsors, media and the public, while he also wanted to grieve more for his father, who died in 1998.
Wilson explained how he just wanted to play rugby and be judged for that. He detested intrusions into his public life. He did not consider himself public property and if that attitude alienated people, he did not mind.
His book was mainly about rugby, though there were mentions of his relationship with netballer Adine Harper and the fury he felt when he was linked to gay rumours.
Nothing had made him more angry than those slurs, and it confirmed his desire to keep out of the public arena.
But Wilson said of a return to rugby: "I think the chances are fair, to be honest. I miss playing the game."
He was a competitor, he was a sportsman and it would be a disservice to himself if he did not play again.
