Zac Guildford© AFP PHOTO / THIERRY ZOCCOLAN

Former Crusaders and All Blacks winger Zac Guildford has quit French Top 14 club Clermont Auvergne, citing personal reasons. He will return to New Zealand.

Guildford, who has 22 All Blacks caps, has made 20 appearances for Les Jaunards but did not feature in the European Rugby Champions Cup final against Toulon on the weekend, with Noa Nakaitaci and Napolioni Nalaga preferred.

"Faced with personal problems, Zac could not stand the distance between here and New Zealand and he expressed his wish to join relatives," the club said on their website. "Despite the help of the entire team and the fact that we have accompanied him throughout the year, it was not enough.

"We knew that we were taking a gamble with Zac. From a sporting perspective, we were successful as he has met our expectations by playing 20 games. Unfortunately the weight of the distance and that resulting weakness are hurdles too big to overcome."

Another opportunity for me to become fitter and mentally stronger. No point in thinking of what could of been time to look to the future

— Zac Guildford (@zacguildford11) May 5, 2015

Unfortunately couldn't return to my best rugby at Clermont and thought it was time to move on and be closer to family thank you for asm fans

— Zac Guildford (@zacguildford11) May 5, 2015

Guildford is believed to want to play again for ITM Cup side Hawke's Bay, with Magpies chief executive Mike Bishop telling Fairfax Media in New Zealand that he had been in contact with the winger on Facebook over the past week.

"The contact I've had with him is it just hasn't been working in France and Hawke's Bay is where he'd prefer to be," Bishop told Fairfax Media. "Let's be fair, he wouldn't be the first 26-year-old to go overseas into a country that doesn't speak his language and get homesick. I'm pretty confident that's been a factor in this process. New Zealand is home and Napier is very much home."

Bishop aid that Guildford had "been a good All Black, a fine Super Rugby player and an outstanding Magpie" who was "pretty popular around these parts so we'll make room".

"It wasn't that long ago he was running around for the All Blacks so if he's injury free and highly motivated we'd do a longer term than a year [deal] I can assure you. He's still a very high-quality rugby player. He's always welcome back while I'm sitting in this chair."