All Blacks sabbaticals ‘damage Super Rugby Pacific when it is fighting for

There’s a feeling in New Zealand that Jordie Barrett’s short-term contract with Leinster may bring an end to the era of sanctioned sabbatical deals for leading All Blacks.

It’s become increasingly difficult for New Zealand Rugby to justify why it continues to say protecting the domestic game is among its highest priorities while it allows its elite tier of talent to disappear as they please to avoid playing in Super Rugby Pacific.

Currently, the All Blacks captain Sam Cane and vice-captain Ardie Savea are playing in Japan, along with two-times World Player of the Year Beauden Barrett.

And now, at the end of this year, Jordie Barrett will stay in Europe when he’s over there with the All Blacks, and spend the following six months with Leinster in a deal that will unquestionably sharpen his rugby skills and broaden his outlook, but will leave yet more questions hanging over the future of Super Rugby and NZR’s hotch-potch high-performance strategy which appears to be conflicted and lacking in consistency.

The damage these sabbaticals do to Super Rugby Pacific at a time when it is fighting for survival is almost catastrophic.

It robs the competition of its biggest names, creates the perception of it being a low value entity and endorses this idea that Super Rugby is something the players endure rather than enjoy.

And this is hurting the competition financially as Super Rugby clubs are under financial duress, with the Hurricanes recently reporting a $1.4m loss, leading to board member Russell Poole stating: “Absolutely it’s a concern. One hundred per cent it is.”

Losing Barrett for the 2025 season is hardly going to help the Hurricanes financially, and nor is his absence – and the probable absence of other key All Blacks on sabbaticals during this World Cup cycle – going to help NZR drive an improved broadcast contract from Sky TV.

The problem for NZR is it opened Pandora’s Box back in 2008 when it first came up with the sabbatical concept.

So too are the clubs upset that they have to strictly manage All Blacks players’ workloads to prescribed formulas – everyone at the World Cup has to miss at least two games this season – while NZR sanctions sabbatical contracts whereby the leading talent can be run into the ground by foreign clubs.

Pressure to stop these departures is also going to come from the newly formed Super Rugby commission which is looking to better market and promote the competition to a wider audience.

Again, it’s hard to do that when so many big names are sanctioned to leave by the competition’s owner.

The problem for NZR is it opened Pandora’s Box back in 2008 when it first came up with the sabbatical concept.

The…