Jordie Barrett is set to be named in the All Blacks squad after his sabbatical in Ireland.
The sabbatical system offers virtual selection guarantees for players with long-term contracts and 70 test caps.
This system benefits senior players but creates inequity for aspiring All Blacks like Quinn Tupaea and David Havili.
Now that we are weeks away from the first All Blacks squad of the year being named, the great fallacy of wondering whether Jordie Barrett will be included can begin in earnest.
The mystery can be played up – the whole story presented as if there isan element of doubt as to whether he will be included, having spent the last six months playing for Leinster in Ireland.
But the “will he, won’t he” parlour game is a nonsense, as Barrett will be named in the 35-man squad – a fact that would have been as true the day he left for Ireland as it is now after he has delivered, by all accounts, a series of strong and compelling performances for the European heavyweights.
Barrett has earned his selection based on how he has played, but that doesn’t stop it being true that he was going to be picked by the All Blacks this year, regardless of how he played.
The sabbatical is a retention tool – a means to persuade the most experienced and high-value players to sign longer-term contracts that come with the perk of being able to spend one club season offshore.
The qualifying criterion for sabbaticals is that they will be offered to those players who have won or will likely win 70 test caps if they make a long-term commitment to stay in New Zealand by signing at least a three-year, but, preferably, a four-year contract.
Jordie Barrett in action for Leinster in Dublin. Photo / Photosport
It’s a perk that brings significant financial rewards as players, in a 12-month period, can bank anything between $1 million to $2m from their foreign club and another $1m from New Zealand Rugby.
It also enables individuals to broaden their skillsets, experience life in a different setting and do so in a wider context knowing that it’s all part of extending a playing career in New Zealand.
The system, which started in 2009 with Daniel Carter being granted dispensation to play half a season for Perpignan, has been enormously successful in achieving its goal of keeping the best players in New Zealand for longer.
But it would instantly collapse if there were suddenly doubts about whether returning players would immediately resume their test careers.
The sabbatical programme will be dead in the water the instant one player is not picked by the All Blacks immediately upon their return, as it has to be a precondition that playing overseas will not be prejudicial to a player’s selection prospects.
To date, the system has operated precisely as it was intended – and every player who has been granted a short-leave of absence has taken their place in the All Blacks after they come home (Damian McKenzie in 2022 and TJ Perenara in 2021 played in Japan, though not on sabbaticals) – and Barrett will be no different.
There’s no issue with Barrett slipping back into the All Blacks in July, given how well he’s contributed in Ireland.
But where the sabbatical system does impinge and carry a sense of injustice is in how it affects the next generation of aspiring All Blacks.
While Barrett has been operating under a virtual selection guarantee at Leinster, the likes of Quinn Tupaea, David Havili, Billy Proctor and Braydon Ennor have been duking it out in Super Rugby Pacific, unsure but hopeful of their selection fate.
Not all of them can make the cut and this is the issue – the sabbatical, given its virtual selection guarantee, creates a long-term inequity where senior players are given a significant advantage in retaining their test place.
Ultimately, the system becomes self-preserving and self-perpetuating for long-servers as they become, almost, a protected species. Hit that magical 70-test mark and it’s almost a guarantee to stay in the All Blacks – and there hasn’t yet been a player who took a sabbatical who was dumped by the national team while still eligible to play for it.
Barrett, just like all previous sabbatical takers, is virtually assured now to hold his All Blacks place through to the 2027 World Cup, just as Rieko Ioane, who will take a sabbatical at Leinster next year, is.
And, probably, if Anton Lienert-Brown extends his contract past 2026 as he is rumoured to be doing and plays for Kobe Steelers next year on sabbatical, as he is also rumoured to be doing, then he too will likely find himself on the plane to Australia in 2027.
New Zealand Rugby and the All Blacks selectors can say this isn’t true, but there is not a shred of evidence to refute that consistency of selection comes with loyalty – and a bucket load to support it.
Just as there is plenty of evidence to say that some of those grafting to make it into the All Blacks and stay there for long enough to hit the magical 70-test mark will leave New Zealand permanently feeling that their pathway was blocked.
