Beauden Barrett Still Plagued by Concussion Issues Ahead of Opening Super Rugby Pacific Encounter

All Blacks star Beauden Barrett looks set to sit out the first round of the Super Rugby Pacific season. The 30-year-old is taking longer than anticipated to shake off concussion sustained during New Zealand’s Test match with Ireland in November 2021. The first five-eighth sensation has returned to the Blues for the 2022 season, after taking a sabbatical from the Auckland side in 2021, lighting up the Japanese Top League with outfit Suntory Sungoliath.

Barrett was forced out of the All Blacks’ subsequent Test with France in Paris a week after his head injury in Dublin. He was photographed with Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil football icon Neymar at the Stade de France after France’s impressive 40-25 victory, with the pair both wearing the number 10 of their respective codes. Neymar has become a global superstar for club and country. He’s not only been successful with a football at his feet, he’s also made headlines in poker circles, after becoming obsessed with the classic card game. He even named his new dog after it after it, such is his passion for this historic table game.

After his brush with football royalty, Barrett returned to Auckland to try and recuperate and prepare for the new Super Rugby season in the New Year. However, Barrett has continued to suffer concussion symptoms from the front-on collision sustained against Ireland. He has spent time training with the Blues, who welcomed back their All Blacks stars ahead of their first preseason warm-up encounter with the Hurricanes.

Even though the nine All Blacks players within the Blues squad will be given restricted minutes in a Blues jersey from the first game week of the new Super Rugby season, Blues coach Leon MacDonald has ruled Barrett out of round one against Moana Pasifika at Auckland’s MT Smart Stadium.

MacDonald admitted it was “really tough” for the Blues’ medical department to “name a date” for Barrett to be ready to return given the nature of the injury. MacDonald confirmed that Barrett “ran pretty well” and has taken part in “high-intensity training” sessions, but despite his energy being “good”, the club’s medical team wants to treat his concussion with kid gloves for the time being.

Beauden Barrett not the only absentee from the Blues’ season opener

With Barrett ruled out of the Blues’ opening encounter with Moana Pasifika, MacDonald looks set to replace him with either Harry Plummer or Stephen Perofeta. The latter was named last season’s NPC Player of the Year having thrived at fullback for Taranaki. In addition, MacDonald will also have a selection dilemma given the absence of All Blacks prop Karl Tu’inukuafe, who will be sidelined for the first two months of the new Super Rugby Pacific campaign after undergoing back surgery at the end of last year. The surgery has been deemed a major success, with Tu’inukuafe now slated to return in April instead of missing the entire 2022 season.

Barrett and the Blues will understandably be one of the teams to beat once again in the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific campaign. Their main rivals are sure to be the Crusaders and the Hurricanes, both of whom will aspire to claim the Grand Final honours this year.

Interestingly, the Crusaders and the Hurricanes face off in the first week of the new Super Rugby season. With the Blues having an easier start on paper against Moana Pasifika, MacDonald will be hoping his team can steal a march on at least one of their main rivals. These leading teams will be part of a ‘Queenstown bubble’, designed to ensure the health and safety of five of the leading teams in the Super Rugby Pacific and maintain the early season schedule.

These early-season contests will be played behind closed doors which may have a bearing on the in-game atmosphere. It could prove a bonus to the teams that typically get the smallest crowds in Super Rugby, who don’t have the backing of teams like the Blues and Crusaders.