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Reports: Beauden Barrett and Nepo Laulala in discussions with French clubs
By Sam Smith
The All Blacks are set to lose two of their most experienced players following the 2023 Rugby World Cup with Beauden Barrett and Nepo Laulala both reportedly weighing up deals with French clubs.
Considerable player movement has become the norm in the aftermath of rugby's showpiece tournament and many would have anticipated that a significant number of senior All Blacks would look offshore following next year's tournament, which will be hosted in France.
A slew of current All Blacks - including the likes of Laulala, Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith and Richie Mo'unga - are all currently signed on contracts that run until the end of 2023 and while New Zealand Rugby will undoubtedly try to keep some players in the country beyond the World Cup, it seems inevitable that a number of them will take major offers with overseas clubs.
Reports out of France suggest that the Blues pairing of Laulala and Barrett are two such players.
According to RMC Sport, 31-year-old tighthead prop Laulala, who has earned 41 appearances for New Zealand since his Test debut in 2015, is being eyed up as a direct replacement for Charlie Faumuina at France's most successful club, Stade Toulousain. Toulouse were crowned Top 14 champions last season and boast a playing roster that includes such talents as Julien Marchand, Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack.
While Laulala has already forged a strong career in NZ, he's fallen out of favour recently and found himself unable to crack the match-day squad, with relative youngsters Tyrel Lomax and Fletcher Newell preferred in the most recent spate of matches.
Meanwhile, Barrett, a former World Rugby Player of the Year, is supposedly in talks with Racing 92 about joining the club following France 2023.
Barrett has been an All Blacks mainstay since debuting in 2012 and has clocked up over a century of appearances in the black jersey. Barrett remains locked in a battle with Richie Mo'unga to wear the No 10 jersey.
At 31 years of age, Barrett best years are perhaps coming to a close and the talented utility back would undoubtedly attract a significant paycheck at Racing, where former All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter also spent three seasons towards the end of his career.
While Lauala and Barrett would both be losses to New Zealand, they have given ample service to the black jersey and have well and truly earned big money deals overseas, should that be where the future takes them.
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Latest Comments
SCW really dislikes Eddie, doesn't he?
His words in 2019 before the RWC final that he now says should have resulted in Eddie's firing:
"Was Saturday’s sensational World Cup semi-final win over New Zealand England’s greatest ever performance? Yes, unquestionably, would be my answer."
So let's fire the coach one game later? Duh!
Go to commentsIreland have every right to back themselves for a win. But the key variable has little to do with recent record etc.
The reality is that Ireland are a settled team with tons of continuity, an established style, and a good depth chart, whereas NZ are fundamentally rebuilding. The questions are all about what Razor is doing and how far along he is in that program.
NZ are very close to really clicking. Against England all of the chatter is about how England could have closed out a win, but failed to do so. This has obscured the observation that NZ were by far the more creative and effective in attack, beyond the 3-1 try differential and disallowed tries. They gave away a lot of unnecessary penalties, and made many simple errors (including knock-ons and loose kicks). Those things are very fixable, and when they do so we are once again going to be staring at a formidable NZ team.
Last week we heard the England fans talking confidently about their chances against NZ, but England did not end up looking like the better team on the field or the scoreboard. The England defense was impressive enough, but still could not stop the tries.
Ireland certainly has a better chance, of course, but NZ is improving fast, and I would not be surprised at a convincing All Black win this week. It may turn on whether NZ can cut out the simple mistakes.
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