Surprise bolter called into All Blacks squad as two players return home

Publish Date
Monday, 4 October 2021, 1:02PM
Photosport

Photosport

By: Liam Napier

All Blacks locks Scott Barrett and Patrick Tuipulotu will return to New Zealand and skip the five-match northern tour, with 20-year-old Taranaki and Chiefs second-rower Josh Lord called up as a squad bolter.

Barrett, who featured in every Rugby Championship match, starting four of six games, has his first baby due in November and wants to be present for the birth.

Tuipulotu is set to take up a one season sabbatical with Japanese club Toyota Verblitz in 2022 but needs to link with the team at the end of this year, and he has a young daughter to consider.

Both players have secured MIQ spots at a time when other New Zealand athletes such as triathlete Hayden Wilde and doubles tennis specialist Michael Venus, both of whom claimed bronze medals at the Tokyo Olympics, have vented their frustrations at being unable to return home.

Other athletes affected by MIQ access include Paige Hareb, who pulled out of the World Surf League challenger series last month because she could not secure a spot.

Several members of Auckland's City Kickboxing gym, including UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker, have signalled their desire to move to America for the good of their careers, due to lockdowns and the MIQ situation in New Zealand.

Thousands of New Zealanders abroad have also missed out on attempts to secure MIQ spots in the highly-criticised lottery booking system.

With Barrett and Tuipulotu returning home, All Blacks coach Ian Foster made the surprise call to include Lord, the 2.02m, 106 kg lock who has played five Super Rugby games for the Chiefs, ahead of Crusaders contender Quinten Strange and Highlanders second-rower Pari Pari Parkinson.

All Blacks centurion Sam Whitelock, injured captain Sam Cane, hooker Dane Coles and loose forward Shannon Frizell will also join the team in Washington DC, where they begin their five-match northern tour.

Last month Frizell had criminal charges, which included two charges of male assaults female and another of common assault at a nightclub incident in May, against him dropped. He was denied a visa to enter Australia while the case was before the courts.

The full All Blacks squad has 65 MIQ spots for their return home after the final match of the year against France in Paris on November 20.

Foster said: "From a physical point of view, we have come through the Rugby Championship really well. Therefore, we've decided to add fewer players than first anticipated for the next part of our 12-week tour. Also having the Bunnings NPC continue into November means we are also able to bring over potential replacements, if required."

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission

 

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