Can the great SBW, that so many see as the next great All Black midfielder, actually run? So far, from what I have watched, he is slower than my 95 year old paraplegic grandmother. I can just see all his fancy off-loads resulting in tries 90 metres down the field.

Of course he will be in contention,after all he has had one game.He will have special jersey emblem,a flying pig!Is the media doing continual beatups on this player because of the size of his contract??

This is ludicrous. The guy has only played one game! There is absolutely no point passing judgement yet other than to fill newspaper or website real estate.

Once he has had chance to play with this team for a while, gel with his team-mates and form combinations then we can pass comment.

I just love how people go on about offloads being 50/50 balls. Better for someone to be creating opportunities (even if only a handful come off) than to have a journeyman trundling it up with no chance of the ball going anywhere other than to ground.

If SBW really wants to be a successful All Black I think he needs to stay on longer than next year's World Cup. It looks like he'll just run back to Toulon once the World Cup is over and in all reality that's nowhere near enough time to prove oneself as a worthy All Black. There's no doubt SBW has the X-Factor and is fully capable of playing rugby at International level, the highest level. I wouldn't be impressed if he does leave directly after the World Cup as I feel he wouldn't be truly doing the All Black jersey justice. Hey it's great that he spurned the largest contract for any player ever to try and get into the All Blacks, but he needs to go on further from there to really prove he's not in it for the money.

wHAT IS THE FUSS ABOUT THIS GUY??

Robbie Fruean = Hero

Sonny Bill Williams = Zero

Keep him out of the All Blacks, he's no better than any other player in NZ and we deserve the best in the Black jersey.

considering all the hype around him I don't think he did too badly, he had a solid start with a few areas he could use some work on to adapt to the faster and physical southern hemisphere game. I think its still early days to be calling him an allblack contender with all the talent henry has at his disposal.

stanley doesn't need to be nervous id back him in an all blacks test match over sonny bill any day. SBW needs to learn to hold the ball in two hands and stop throwing 50/50 balls at best he is an impact player theres no way hes ever going to be an all black legend

One would have to assume that despite everyone telling us that Sonny Bill Williams has to earn his way into the All Blacks, that he seems to be an automatic selection alongside both Carter and McCaw. Obviously he'd shown he's able to play the game well during his time with Toulon in France, but that's an entirely different competition compared with what we have here in NZ. I think these journalists (including Frank Bunce on another article) need to dampen their enthusiasm a bit and not start crowing too early after watching him play just 60 minutes of ITM Cup rugby. I myself thought he was solid without being too spectacular. Bay of Plenty are a good side but I'd like to see how SBW goes against a defence that's as good as the likes of Southland before I really open up to the possibility of him being an All Black. He certainly has got the X-Factor and will get into the End Of Year tour without a doubt. The one thing I will say is that he needs to find a bigger shirt to fit those massive guns into!

@ian of tawa #56

minnow union? so wellington lose to manawatu, southland lose to northland, and you still think there is a hieracy in terms of who he should be playing against? pull your head in -

the beauty of the ITM cup is that its an even ledger- the necessary test for SBW will be the next level up- not different teams from the same level.