TNT Sports
Marshall not done yet
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Published 10/07/2005 at 10:40 GMT+1
All Blacks scrumhalf Justin Marshall was supposed to bid farewell to New Zealand rugby on Saturday but the door was left ajar for him to return at the 2007 World Cup. Marshall played some 30 minutes of the All Blacks' 38-19 third test victory over the British and Irish Lions at Eden Park on Saturday
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The match was supposed to end his 10-year, 81-test career. He is shortly to join English club Leeds on a two-year contract.
However the 31-year-old Marshall told reporters he was keen to be involved with the All Blacks at the 2007 World Cup in France if he was playing well enough.
"I finish in May of the year of the World Cup with my contract with Leeds," said Marshall. "I said to (coach Graham Henry) 'Look, if there's some injury concerns or you don't feel there's enough depth, then I'm very keen to be involved if I'm playing well enough and you think that I could be involved in the side'.
"In my case the door is slightly ajar. It's not set in concrete and it's a long way off for me and this team, but you never say never."
Henry said Marshall could have a part to play.
"There's a lot of water to run under the bridge between now and then," said Henry on Sunday. "But we've both got open minds and we have discussed it.
"If he's playing well and we think he's in the top three, he'll get in."
Marshall received an emotional send-off on Saturday with captain Tana Umaga making a special trip to the podium to encourage the crowd to congratulate one of the team's "great warriors".
Marshall made his Test debut in 1995, and captained New Zealand for five Tests in 1997.
He fell out of favour from time to time during his All Blacks career but always managed to force his way back into the reckoning and became New Zealand's most capped scrumhalf of all time.
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