Rugby: Kaino hints at leaving NZ

Jerome Kaino. Photo / Brett Phibbs

All Blacks loose forward Jerome Kaino is toying with the idea of heading overseas to play once he comes off contract at the end of the upcoming Super Rugby season.

The 28-year-old was in brilliant form last year as he helped the All Blacks to the World Cup and earned a nomination for the IRB International Player of the Year award.

The 48-test veteran is preparing for his ninth Super Rugby season with the Blues and told Radiosport this morning (Fri) he had received offers to play overseas.

"All options are open at the moment when my contract's up. I'll make sure my management do the best job for me to see where we go from there. At the moment I'm enjoying footy in New Zealand," he said.

"It's foreign territory for me, having other clubs being interested in you. I've heard some stories of other clubs that I'm signing with that I haven't even heard of. At the moment I have the Super 15 ahead of me and I just want to really enjoy that before I look at other options."

Kaino, who made his test debut in 2006, played all but 30 seconds of New Zealand's seven-match World Cup campaign.

He capped a year that also included a wedding and the birth of his first son by beating captain Richie McCaw and second five-eighths Ma'a Nonu to win the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year.

Brad Thorn, Mils Muliaina and Stephen Donald all took up overseas contracts after the World Cup.

Dan Carter and Richie McCaw had sabbatical clauses written into their new contracts signed last year which could be an option for Kaino.

Despite the accolades the Blues loosie earned last year, he still thinks he can improve on last year's performances.

"I'm still looking back at what happened in 2011 and that was a huge year," he told Radiosport. "Looking forward to this season, it's going to be tough to replicate it. That's the whole part of sport, challenge yourself to try and get better and I think that's the goal this year.

"People put a lot of focus on individual performances and I think as a collective our whole All Blacks squad and the Blues squad played well last year and that just allowed me to play my game. If both teams do the same this year, we'll get better performances as individuals."

Kaino was so eager to get back on the field that he passed up the chance of a break offered to All Blacks after the World Cup and turned up to the Blues first training session.

He returns to the rugby field when the Blues take on the Hurricanes in their opening pre-season clash in Whangarei tomorrow.