Hurricanes and All Blacks star Ngani Laumape has taken to Twitter to recruit for his home town Mitre 10 province Manawatu in an unconventional and unusual fashion.
The bulldozing second five missed out on World Cup selection and spent the rest of the season tormenting Mitre10 Cup sides with breakaway performances for his Turbos outfit, showing the All Blacks just what they had missed out on.
Now the former NRL star has laid down the challenge for other players to "come play for a small town like Manawatu" instead of "hiding behind the bigger cities".
Just keeping it real everyone wants to hide behind the big city teams try come play for small town like Manawatu turbos instead hiding behind the bigger cities lol show me good you are ??? Exactly ππ€π»
It is difficult to determine who exactly Laumape's message is meant for, but the centre wants others to "show me how good you are" playing for a smaller provincial region.
His message was met with a response from fans and pro players alike, with former All Black and current Wasps' flyhalf Lima Sopoaga replying with "Stagnation".
After one punter suggested Laumape isn't good enough for the big city teams, despite Laumape playing for his country and Super Rugby with a franchise in New Zealand's second-biggest city, teammate Ardie Savea labelled the assertion the "joke of the year".
Ngani Laumape of Manawatu warms up during a Mitre 10 Cup match against Canterbury. Photo / Photosport
Laumape has publicly dealt with his World Cup omission admirably by returning to the Turbos and playing out the season without any fuss despite the circumstances.
The Turbos made the Championship semifinals before coming undone to Bay of Plenty in a lopsided match.
With Super Rugby just around the corner, Laumape will soon be pushing for an All Black recall with Sonny Bill Williams and Ryan Crotty moving offshore after the World Cup.
It's unknown yet whether Laumape's recruitment pitch will help the Turbos bring any new players to the Manawatu for next season.
