All Blacks World Cup winner Liam Messam has used social media to speculate his immediate future lies in Tokyo.

The 31-year-old posted a photo of himself on his Instagram page wearing the jersey of a professional Japanese rugby club.

Rotorua raised, Liam was always expected to move to Japan after the 2015 Rugby World Cup, before possibly returning to New Zealand to chase a spot in the All Blacks Sevens side for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

He has been left out of the Chiefs' squad for next year's Super Rugby competition.

Liam, who has played 43 tests for the All Blacks, posted the shot of himself wearing a Toshiba Brave Lupus jersey along with the words: 'Enjoyed watching my first game of top League here in Japan. I can see why Japan done so well in the RWC...”

While Toshiba seemingly haven't officially announced Messam's arrival, Japan-based rugby writer Rich Freeman posted on Twitter: 'Toshiba Brave Lupus announce that Liam Messam has joined the team for the 2015-16 Top League season.”

The competition gets underway this weekend, so it's unclear when Messam will take the field for the first time. The competition finishes in late January.

It is understood Messam has signed with Toshiba for more than one season, so the situation regarding his New Zealand Rugby contract – which is needed for him to be part of the sevens programme - remains unclear.

Meanwhile, All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has announced his retirement from professional rugby, saying he will now pursue his passion for flying.

The world's most capped international made the announcement at New Zealand Rugby's headquarters in Wellington on Thursday.

McCaw said the decision was not an easy to make as he loved playing rugby and the timing of the announcement was difficult following the death of All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu.