All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick has revealed why he turned down a return to the Chiefs for next month's Super Rugby Aotearoa competition.
Retallick was among the many New Zealand players who returned home from Japan when the Top League season was cancelled due to Covid-19.
The 28-year-old is contracted with New Zealand Rugby until 2023, but took a two-year sabbatical to play for the Kobelco Steelers in Japan in 2020 and 2021.
Retallick's situation is similar to other top returning players such as Ben Smith, Waisake Naholo and Ryan Crotty, all of whom are under contract overseas and would require New Zealand Super Rugby sides to cover insurance costs to enable them to suit up for the Aotearoa campaign.
However, the Chiefs still did reach out to Retallick about potentially re-joining the franchise, but he instead opted for an extended break.
Retallick says the Chiefs did approach him, but one of the reasons he wanted to stay in Japan and do these couple of seasons was just to have a break, a bit of time with the family with a long offseason, and give the body a bit of a break.
[Source: NZ Herald]
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