KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia Rugby has made it clear that former All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams is not on the radar of the governing body’s soon-to-be-announced coaching set-up.
It was reported that the 38-year-old, who made a total of 70 appearances for New Zealand from 2014-2019, had expressed interest in forging a partnership with the rugby body without specifying his intended role.
The two-time World Cup winner with New Zealand in 2011 and 2015 arrived in Malaysia last Friday to speak at an Islamic educational event over the weekend.
He also shared his expertise with 60 young players from the National Rugby Development Programme (NRDP) in a programme called “Rugby Clinic With The Offload King,” which was organised by the National Sports Council (NSC) and the National Sports Institute (NSI) today.
Speaking to Scoop, Malaysia Rugby’s honorary secretary Fahmy Jalil appreciated the experienced player’s interest but stressed that the governing body would not be able to bring him on board due to its ongoing financial constraints.
“I’m happy that Sonny has shown his interest in working together with Malaysia Rugby. Hearing this itself is already a big honour for us and makes us feel happy that we are well known and doing a good job. But I have to make it clear that he is not on our radar at the moment.
“It’s not going to be cheap to bring him on board as a coach, and we can only work within the budget that we already have.
“We will have a few new coaches in our coaching set-up, but we won’t be able to announce anything for now.
“We will only be able to make a formal announcement once we are done with our second annual general meeting on February 23,” said Fahmy.
Fahmy further extended his heartfelt appreciation to both the NSC and the NSI for their efforts in facilitating the involvement of seasoned players like Williams to educate the local pool of rugby talents.
“This is definitely a great initiative by both NSC and NSI. I’m very sure that the players in the NRDP would have learned a lot from legendary players like him.
“We at Malaysia Rugby will definitely support more initiatives like this, and we will work together with NSC and NSI to bring more legendary rugby players from around the world to educate our local talents,” Fahmy added.
Malaysia Rugby is currently preparing its best team for this year’s Asian Rugby Championship, scheduled to take place in Hong Kong.
Warming up for the continental campaign, the national team will also compete in the SEA Sevens tournament, taking place in Kuala Lumpur from April 30 to May 4. – February 19, 2024