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TJ Perenara opens up on life back in NZ and his All Blacks comeback

The halfback said his goal is to prove to himself he can still play rugby at the highest level.

The All Blacks play this weekend but TJ Perenara isn't in the side. Instead, you'll catch him  playing for boyhood club Norths in Porirua, and he's loving it.

“It's special,” he said.

“Just being in the changing rooms.. you see people you grew up playing with at school, people I grew up playing against at school and I'm seeing the young kids who were like me five, 10 years ago”.

Ineligible for the All Blacks for now, Perenara is finding his feet again after a whirlwind experience playing rugby in Japan.

TJ Perenara.

With opportunities to showcase his talents again in professional rugby in New Zealand coming up, Perenara is determined to reclaim the black jersey.

“We have such a quality group of nines and I think it makes us all play better and I think seeing one another succeed makes us all play better,” he said.

“I want other nines to succeed, I want everyone to do well and have great careers too.”

“I want them all to play good, I just want to play better,” he said.

While he forged enriching experiences on the field, he had struggles off it, as coronavirus fears forced his daughter and wife to return home.

“It was probably the hardest time of my life being away from my wife and baby, being in Japan while it was in a state of emergency, “ he said.

“There was a lot of time spent by myself which I had never done before, I had never lived by myself, I don’t spend heaps of time by myself outside of training.”

“So to go through all of that was really hard at the time,” Perenara said.

Add to the mix, a tempting offer from the Roosters in the NRL to switch codes.

Brought up in a family heavily influenced by rugby league, the opportunity was a sporting dream of his.

But ultimately, uncertainty around Covid-19 and being away from whānau proved too much.

Perenara says the offer to play in the NRL was hugely tempting, but ultimately he turned down Trent Robinson’s offer to play under him at the Roosters after talking it through with his wife.

He says the decision to return to New Zealand was made within half an hour of having to tell Robinson and the Roosters.

The All Blacks halfback crossed over for a special effort on Sunday.

“As close as that decision was to go, coming back to New Zealand, out of isolation, walking on to Rugby League Park with the Hurricanes boys when they were training made it feel so right, it was like man this is where I want to be.”

However, Perenara wasn't greeted with open arms on his return by some in the rugby community.

He says while it didn't bother him, it did affect his whānau.

“My initially reaction was, yeah I was a little bit mad about it.”

“I was like man I’ve only been gone three or four months and this is what people are saying already.”

“But I switched my mindset, people are allowed to feel that way about me if they want to, if they think I'm garbage bro, then they think I’m garbage, if they think I’m awesome then they think I’m awesome.

“At the end of the day their opinion doesn't matter on how I apply myself each day, how I turn up each day what I apply to a footy team and environment.”

“I could come back and win World Player of the Year and people will still say I should have come back, so it just doesn’t matter.”

“My goal is not to prove people wrong, my goal is to prove myself right. I know how good I am and how good I can be,” he said.

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