Blues: Beauden Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu to miss start of Super Rugby Pacific season

The Blues will be without two key players at the start of the Super Rugby Pacific season, as coach Vern Cotter enters his third and final campaign in charge.

First five-eighth Beauden Barrett will miss the opening three rounds as his workload is carefully managed, having only returned to light training duties last week.

Captain and fellow All Black Patrick Tuipulotu also remains sidelined, continuing his rehabilitation from a shoulder injury that ruled him out of last year’s northern tour, following an injury-disrupted 2025.

Tuipulotu sustained the injury while playing for the Blues last season. Although it was initially believed to have settled early in the All Blacks campaign, the issue flared intermittently, eventually forcing him to withdraw from the national squad.

It marked Tuipulotu’s second significant injury of the year after suffering a facial fracture in the opening Rugby Championship win over Argentina in Córdoba. The injury sidelined him for the following loss to the Pumas and both tests against the Springboks, before he returned for the Bledisloe Cup, coming off the bench in both matches.

Cotter expects Tuipulotu to return around round six and says the lock is already eager to get back on the field.

“You can see him pacing around the place,” Cotter said. ”He’s around the coffee machine and probably needs to get a bit better at making coffees than he has done.

“The doctors are saying round six, but knowing Patty, he’ll try to start the competition in two weeks’ time.

“I don’t know that’s going to be the best decision for him, so we’ll be patient. But his influence around the team is already great.”

While the absence of Barrett and Tuipulotu will be felt, the Blues will be boosted by the return of fellow All Blacks Ofa Tuʻungafasi and Stephen Perofeta.

Tuʻungafasi missed most of last season with a neck injury, last featuring in a defeat to the ACT Brumbies, while Perofeta managed an ongoing calf issue.

Lock Sam Darry, another All Black, also sat out the entire Super campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Cotter said Tuʻungafasi’s return would be significant.

“He’s an older body and working his way back to fitness and game fitness,” Cotter said. ”We’re confident he’ll be ready for the first game. He can play both sides of the scrum and has challenged himself to shift to tighthead to give us what we need there.

“Having a player with his mana around the team is really important.

“The Blues will be determined to send Cotter out on a high, with the 64-year-old set to depart the Auckland-based franchise at the end of the season for the Queensland Reds on a two-year deal.

Cotter guided the Blues to the title in his first year but endured a tougher 2025 campaign, finishing sixth after winning six of 14 regular-season matches.

The Blues open their 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season against the Chiefs in Auckland on February 14.

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.