The New Zealand outside-half Andrew Mehrtens dropped a heavy hint last night that he would like to link up at Northampton with Wayne Smith, his former coach at Canterbury and with the All Blacks.
The 29-year old Mehrtens is staying with Smith next week following New Zealand's three-Test tour of Europe, which ends against Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
"Wayne is a friend of mine and it will be good to catch up with him again. I have not decided what I will do after the World Cup when my contract ends. The way I am feeling at the moment I could well stay with Canterbury," said Mehrtens, who has won 65 caps and scored 909 points for the All Blacks.
"If I did come to England, Northampton would be an obvious club to join because of Wayne, one of the best coaches I have ever worked with. We did not see the best of him with the All Blacks for a number of reasons, not least because of the controls which were put on him centrally, something his successor John Mitchell has managed to break free of.
"I am delighted he is doing well at Northampton. If I came to England, it would not be for the money. I would only make the move if I felt I could offer something as a player. I could not bear the thought of picking up a pay-cheque which I was not worth: I am not interested in a superannuation package."
Mehrtens invoked the wrath of England's head coach Clive Woodward this month when he accused England of being arrogant in victory and the nation teams least want to lose to. But he said yesterday that his comments had been misinterpreted.
"I certainly did not have the England players in mind," he said. "As a team they are certainly in with a chance of winning the World Cup. Their back play has come on enor mously in the last six years and in the likes of Will Greenwood, Jonny Wilkinson and Jason Robinson they have performers of the highest quality. I also admire the way England have kept faith with forwards in their late 20s and early 30s whereas in New Zealand we may have pensioned off guys too early.
"What I had in mind was the English media, who are usually insufferable in victory. When you lose to South Africa or Australia, they show respect because they know next time the result could be different.
"They enjoy the moment but do not go overboard, but in England it is usually different. I was surprised, though, by the reaction after we had lost narrowly to them a couple of weeks ago. It has been hard coping with all that false modesty."
Mehrtens will be the most experienced player in the New Zealand side to face Wales in a fixture which used to be one of the most competitive in international rugby but which in the past 22 years has become embarrassingly one-sided.
"Wales is a great rugby nation," Mehrtens added. "Cardiff is one of the best cities to play in because of the passion for the game here. I think it is still one of the big games on the schedule, never mind the fact that we have had some big victories in the last five or six meetings. We have so much respect for what Wales have done for the game over the years that we will never let up against them."
