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Hurricanes coach's 'gut feel' is TJ Perenara will return to club, not switch to NRL

April 20, 2021

Jason Holland believes Perenara still wants to be a Hurricane and All Black, not an NRL rookie.

Hurricanes coach Jason Holland is confident former halfback TJ Perenara will return to the Wellington franchise despite growing speculation of a shock switch to rugby league.

1 NEWS revealed last week that Perenara is in discussions to join the Sydney Roosters as discussions grew around New Zealand Rugby's willingness to re-sign the 29-year-old after his Japanese rugby stint.

The Roosters have since confirmed they’ve “talked” to Perenara and more recently Kiwis star Brandon Smith revealed Perenara has been messaging NRL players about rugby league since at least February.

Regardless of all this though, Holland still backs Perenara to come back to his roots.

"Obviously, TJ has got some interesting offers going on, but I'm pretty sure he's pretty keen to be an All Black and a Hurricane at the moment," Holland said.

Holland said he’d “briefly” spoken with Perenara recently about the situation and his beliefs were a “gut feeling”.

“It’s a tough one when you’re a high-profile player and you’d be a good rugby union player or a good rugby league player – you’re always going to get interest.”

The Hurricanes have felt the absence of Perenara’s experience and skills this season with the Wellington franchise sitting bottom of the table at a record of 1-6.

“[We’ve missed] a bit of leadership,” long-time teammate Dane Coles said.

“But we don’t make that as an excuse – that’s just the nature of what has happened.

“Him being gone too, obviously the results haven’t been that great but guys like [Luke Campbell] who’s taken his opportunities and [Jonathan Taumateine] – you’re growing guys like that as well.

“Those guys are benefitting from playing Super Rugby.”

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