Beauden Barrett falls foul of ‘World Rugby regulations’ after Blues’ audacious bid
Beauden Barrett in action for the Blues during the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season.
The Blues will not be able to play Beauden Barrett during the remainder of the Super Rugby Pacific campaign after he was “ruled ineligible”.
Barrett returned to Auckland after his season at Toyota Verblitz ended and has been seen at training where he was doing drills last week.
That led to the Blues publicly stating that they were “seeking clarification” over his eligibility ahead of the end-of-season run-in.
However, it is has since been confirmed by Super Rugby’s tournament director Matt Barlow that Barrett will not be available for the play-offs.
‘Ruled ineligible’
“This is in alignment with World Rugby regulations which precludes the holding of dual contracts,” Barlow said in a statement issued to Stuff.
“SRP teams are permitted to apply for dispensation to the tournament director for a player who has arrived after April 1, but dispensation can only be granted in the event the arriving player has played four regular season matches and signed a contract to play in SRP the following year.
“Beauden Barrett was not able to meet the stipulated requirements for dispensation and as such he has been ruled ineligible for SRP finals 2024.”
Despite that disappointment, the 33-year-old will be eligible for the All Blacks’ Test season, which starts with matches against England and Fiji in July.
Barrett has also committed to New Zealand Rugby until the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup and will feature for the Blues in the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific campaign.
But he will not be available to Vern Cotter for this weekend’s clash against the Chiefs or the subsequent knockout rounds.
The head coach was asked last Thursday about the playmaker and whether he could feature for the Auckland outfit this season, but the ex-Fiji boss failed to shed light on the matter.
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“At the moment if we’ve got everybody fit … it’s great to have him around, and if something happens, potentially you never know,” Cotter said. “But at the moment he’s just on the field helping us.
“He’s offered ideas. He’s back from a long season, and he needs time to adjust. But the quality of the man is there. He’s a Blues player and he’s trying to help us be the best we can be.”
Other overseas players
Barrett is not the only All Black that New Zealand franchises have been trying to get back from Japan in order to play in this year’s Super Rugby competition.
According to the Chiefs boss Clayton McMillan, they attempted to bring in Brodie Retallick as injury cover, but that request received a rather terse response from the lock’s Japanese club side, Kobelco Kobe Steelers.
“We were told in pretty explicit terms that we may have been able to make a case for it to play round robin games, but there was no chance he could play finals,” McMillan said.
