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I can't find it but I've heard that the NZRU have stated that he will have to play Super14 before he would be looked at for All Blacks.
SBW declares All Blacks World Cup plans
By BRAD WALTER - SMH | Monday, 11 August 2008
SBW declares All Blacks World Cup plans - New Zealand's source for sport, rugby, cricket & league news on Stuff.co.nz
After just 40 minutes of rugby union, Sonny Bill Williams has detailed his ambition to play for the All Blacks in the 2011 World Cup.
In an exclusive interview with the Sydney Morning Herald after his controversial French rugby union debut for the Tana Umaga-coached Toulon club, Williams admitted he had a lot to learn but expressed confidence he could replicate the success he achieved in league.
Starting the match on Saturday (NZ time) against Carqueiranne-Hyeres on the wing, Williams moved to outside-centre in the second half and was just starting to feel comfortable when he was sin-binned for one of his trademark shoulder charges, which are illegal in the 15-man code.
"You don't get to do too much tackling out in the centres and generally when you're playing on the wing you just catch cold, but it was fun and I'm excited to be playing rugby," he said.
"I got a little bit too excited at one stage but it was just a good feeling being out there and playing."
Despite the drama that has followed him since he walked out on the Bulldogs two weeks ago, Williams said he had been totally focused on his new sport and revealed he was receiving private coaching from Umaga and others at Toulon.
"I'm a professional sportsman and I know what I need to do to get out there and perform to my best," he said.
"I've just concentrated on what I have to do and that's learning the game, learning what the team is trying to do and learning my role within the team.
"I'm fully focused, I'm a rugby union player now and I've got goals that I've set - so this is just the start hopefully to a long and successful rugby career."
For the first time, Williams outlined the goals he had set, saying the challenge of becoming a dual international by playing for the All Blacks had been a motivating factor in his decision to switch codes - as had the opportunity to play under Umaga.
"There's short-term goals and there's long term goals, like playing for the All Blacks," he said
"I want to become a dominant No. 13 and be considered one of the best centres going around in world rugby, and I want to play for the All Blacks one day. But first I just want to play good footy, I want to win the competition with Toulon and repay the faith that Tana has shown in me by getting out there and helping his team."
Asked if had set himself the target of breaking into the All Blacks squad for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, Williams said: "One hundred per cent. It's a new game and a new challenge and I know I've got a lot to learn, but I'm excited to be learning off one of the all-time greats in Tana Umaga.
"I think if I am as committed as I was to playing rugby league and learning the game then the next two years will work out."
With just two team training sessions before his first match, Williams said the most difficult things to adjust to were the positional play and the technical side of the game. He agreed it would be more difficult if he was playing in the forwards, but believed the Experimental Law Variations being adopted by northern hemisphere rugby union after their successful introduction in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa would help his transition as a centre.
"I think probably a forward going into the forwards would be a lot more difficult because there's a lot of things that are different," he said. "In the backs, it's still hard because of all the technical things - it's not as easy as people think.
"It's just all the little things I have to pick up - the rucks, the positional play, the calls and the moves. I've written down all the plays and that, the plays are pretty simple. It's just putting in the time and the effort to go over the finer things and not just being a big head and thinking I'm going to be sweet.
"It's just a matter of communication - just like in the NRL - and that experience in the NRL of talking and communicating in defence, with keeping a straight line, now with the new rules in rugby union it's paid off a little bit. There's a lot of different aspects of the game that I've got to pick up but I believe that it's just a matter of me being committed and putting in the hard yards."
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