Chiefs and All Blacks midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown will miss out on the Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific next year to take a sabbatical season at Japanese club Kobe according to 1News.
Several sources told 1News today that Lienert-Brown will link with former Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie and lock Brodie Retallick at Kobe, a club currently placed fifth of 12 teams in Japan's League One competition.
Lienert-Brown's signing is doubly significant given incumbent All Blacks' and Blues' centre Rieko Ioane will bypass Super Rugby next year to play for Leinster in Ireland.
Lienert-Brown, 30, has played 84 times for the All Blacks but has been used mainly in a replacement role at the top level.
Currently injured — 1News understands Lienert-Brown has a broken collarbone which will sideline him for about eight weeks — he will be a big loss for the Chiefs next year in the absence of head coach Clayton McMillan, who has signed for Irish club Munster.
The Lienert-Brown and Ioane sabbatical signings come on top of wing Mark Tele'a's recent announcement that he will leave the Blues and All Blacks to play for Japanese club Toyota at the end of this Super Rugby Pacific season.
Lienert-Brown's decision will likely put more scrutiny on Scott Robertson's long-term midfield options at the All Blacks, with Leicester Fainga'anuku's return from France highly anticipated and Hurricanes' centre Billy Proctor excelling on his return from injury against the Brumbies in Canberra at the weekend.
Hurricane Jordie Barrett, currently on sabbatical himself at Leinster, is a near certainty as the All Blacks' second-five, but Ioane's uncertain form in a struggling Blues team leaves a question mark over who will wear the No.13 Test jersey this year and beyond.
[Source: 1News]
