Nehe Milner-Skudder set to miss World Cup for New Zealand after move to Toulon

Nehe Milner-Skudder will miss the 2019 World Cup in Japan for New Zealand after he has signed a contract with French club Toulon.

The 27-year-old will head to France at the end of the upcoming Super Rugby season with Hurricanes which will effectively end his chance to feature for the World Champions in the showpiece event next year as New Zealand have a policy of selecting only home-bound players.

Milner-Skudder made his debut for New Zealand in August 2015 and was part of the World Cup winning squad later that year but his progress was hampered by a series of injuries.

Overall, Milner-Skudder has played just 13 Tests in over three years in which he managed to get 12 tries across.

New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen, who earlier announced that he will step down from his All Blacks role post World Cup said Milner-Skudder's decision need to be respected.

"He was good enough to ring and explain to us so that's all you can ask for," said Hansen as he announced his own decision to step down after Japan.

"The first thing I asked him is have you thought about this? Have you thought about the time in the jersey? When they tell me they have, the only thing you can do is support them.

"Nehe hasn't had much luck at all in the last probably two years, and he's getting a bit older, so he's probably starting to think I need to support my family and the money is good so I'm going to go.

"So, again, you support him and wish him all the best."