Helicopter scoops Sonny Bill away from quake city

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Sonny Bill Williams was flown by helicopter from the Christchurch earthquake to Auckland yesterday to launch his off-field promotional career – but before he left the cathedral city he had also launched his Kiwi domestic rugby career.

Williams wants to prove to his critics that he is more than just a "crash-bash" footballer and deliberately adopted an expansive style in Canterbury's 28-9 victory over Bay of Plenty on Friday night. While he pronounced himself disappointed with his provincial debut, he reckoned it was another small step towards his "big goal" of All Black selection.

Williams was due to shoot a television commercial in Albany yesterday and when the earthquake closed Christchurch airport, was instead flown by private helicopter to Wellington to meet a connecting flight to Auckland, before being helicoptered again to the shoot in Albany.

On the way, the pilot diverted to the Auckland suburb of Pt Chevalier to pass over his mother's house.

"I texted my mum when I was about five minutes away and said `come outside, I'm in a helicopter'," Williams told the Sunday Star-Times. "She texted back `liar', but she came outside and we were doing circles around and my mum and nana came out and everyone was jumping up and down and they could see me waving. It started off a pretty bad day, and it ended up pretty cool. I always wanted to go in a helicopter, and it was two in one day."

Williams said he had been frustrated by Bay of Plenty's conservative approach on Friday night, saying: "They didn't want to play, they just wanted to get field position – it was a pretty stop-start game there for a while.

"When we got phases together, we were stringing together the options and it was opening up and got free-flowing, and I really enjoyed that. It was wet last night, and as we get into spring and the weather changes, hopefully I first of all get picked in the team and, secondly, we can play some of that kind of rugby."

Williams said he had been working on developing his passing game.

"I know a lot of people are expecting me to be a crash-bash player, but I want to add that to my game [handling] as another thing I can use." He said he was still some weeks from full fitness. He was undergoing acupuncture and massage and had cut back his weights programme to speed the recovery of his hamstring. "I can't get to top speed yet. Each week as I am improving, I can do a bit more, and hopefully I can improve on last night's performance and the body can improve as well."

He thinks it was trying to rush back that caused the setbacks and Canterbury were now nursing him into provincial rugby. "I have the attitude that I go too hard sometimes, but we have a really good medical staff here who have put a plan in place where it is better me being on the field, first and foremost," he said. "Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, I can start gradually getting to where I want to be physically."

Williams still doesn't want to talk about his controversial ski trip to Mt Hutt but did have something to say about the criticism he has faced since arriving in New Zealand. "It's hard sometimes when it is like that," he admitted. "But I've been around a while and I know not to let things like that affect me. I am happy with myself and I can look in the mirror and say that and that's all that matters."

Seven weeks until the All Blacks tour team is named, Williams is sticking resolutely to the line that he would be foolish to be even thinking about national selection yet. "Cracking the starting team for Canterbury – that's the main reason I am down here and if I do that, it's a step in the right direction ... I will do the hard yards, then I want it to be a snowball effect: get over my injuries, stay injury-free and play good rugby."

- © Fairfax NZ News