All Black Beauden Barrett has made his return to rugby on New Zealand shores, suiting up for Coastal in the Taranaki Premier club rugby competition. For the first time in 14 years, Barrett donned the green-and-white garb of the Rahotu-based club, playing in the second half of a 52-12 win over Inglewood . Barrett had been in town as the guest speaker of a fundraiser for his alma mater Francis Douglas Memorial College, and got some minutes under his belt for the first time since returning home from a season in Japan with Toyota Verblitz.
The last time Barrett played for the club was in 2010. Coastal Rugby Club chair Janet Fleming said they had thought it would be a possibility for Barrett to make his return this weekend once he had confirmed he would be in Taranaki. Barrett was not listed on the team sheet, but Fleming said that was because the club weren’t sure he would be cleared to play by the union.
“We did have it in mind that he might play, and if he did play it would be that weekend,” Fleming said. “There was never a guarantee that he was going to play, and injury-wise as well, we actually didn’t know if he was going to play, the team managers didn’t know he was going to play until Saturday morning.” A strong crowd turned out for the contest after news circulated around the club that the 123-test All Black would be in attendance for the game, as was his brother and fellow All Blacks veteran Scott Barrett.
However, Fleming said Barrett had requested that no .
