Skilled flanker back in black?

By MICHAEL BROWN

Andrew Blowers is on the verge of returning to New Zealand next year in an effort to recapture an All Black jersey. The 29-year-old blindside flanker has spent the past five years playing rugby in England, and the last four with Zurich Premiership side Northampton.

All Black coach Graham Henry is a long-term admirer of the former Blues and Auckland player having coached him at provincial level and Blowers said he was tempted to return home.

"We haven't decided 100 percent what we are going to do next year, but we are almost at that stage where we want to go home," Blowers said. "I definitely think that I have nearly done my time in the UK and I want to go when I'm enjoying myself. If I did go, it would definitely be to Auckland."

Blowers has been in contact with Henry and former Northampton coach Wayne Smith, as well as the Auckland Rugby Union.

"I feel really privileged that Graham spoke so highly of me and I'm grateful for what they (Henry and Smith) have said," Blowers explained. "They have given me the option to come back to New Zealand and to have a look at the Super 12."

Fellow Northampton Saints player and former All Blacks fullback Bruce Reihana has already decided to return to New Zealand in the hope of breaking back into the All Blacks and Blowers admitted Reihana had been trying to convince him to return as well once the current English season finished in May. Blowers, who has played 11 tests, mainly as an openside flanker, was persuaded by his former Auckland team-mate Pat Lam to move to England after the 1999 World Cup in the UK.

It was something of a shock to lose a young player overseas at the time, but Blowers has no regrets about giving up his All Blacks chances by moving to England.

"I felt that the timing was right," he explained. "I always wanted to come over here and try things and I settled into life over here really quickly. In terms of a life experience, it's such a great place to come to."

When he first arrived, Blowers was like many New Zealanders who took a rather dim view of the way English rugby was played.

"When I was watching back home, I had that same mentality like most Kiwis that it was just dull 10-man rugby, but things have changed a lot," he said. "It's really difficult to compare the style of games. In England, with the weather conditions, you're limited as to how far the game can go, but it's really physical up front and you feel the effects of every game. Over the course of the hard winter months against massive guys, it can be really difficult - every game is tough." Northampton has a recent tradition of attracting Kiwis with not only Blowers and Reihana, but also former All Black second five-eighths John Leslie as well as Smith.

Reihana joined Northampton from Waikato in 2002 and he's already looking forward to touching down in New Zealand when his contract with the Saints expires at the end of May. "The chance to be in the All Blacks frame again is too hard to give up and I've got my sights set high," the 28-year-old said.

"Hearing Graham Henry saying he was keen to have me back home was great because I thought it was the all over in terms of playing for the All Blacks."

Reihana played against France and Italy in 2000 under Smith. He will return to Waikato towards the end of the Super 12 in the hope of catching the selectors' eyes again.

- THE HERALD ON SUNDAY