{"id":287186,"date":"2026-02-16T20:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287186\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T20:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:23:09","slug":"blues-captain-dalton-papalii-to-leave-new-zealand-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287186\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues captain Dalton Papali’i to leave New Zealand rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blues<\/p>\n

\nBlues captain Dalton Papali’i.
\nPhoto: Andrew Cornaga\/www.photosport.nz\n<\/p>\n

Blues captain Dalton Papali’i will leave New Zealand rugby at the end of the Super Rugby season to play in France.<\/p>\n

The Blues<\/a> have confirmed the 28-year-old will take up an opportunity with French Top 14 team Castres Olympique.<\/p>\n

Papali’i, who made his Blues debut in 2017, said the decision was extremely tough to make, but the timing felt right at this stage of his career.<\/p>\n

“This club means everything to me. I grew up dreaming of wearing the Blues jersey and representing my country. I’ve been lucky enough to live that dream for a long time,” Papali’i said.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/p>\n

\nAll Blacks loose forward Dalton Papali’i in action against France, 2025.
\nPhoto: Brett Phibbs \/ www.photosport.nz\n<\/p>\n

“The Blues gave me my chance, backed me, and helped me become the player and person I am. This was a really hard decision, but the opportunity in France is something that works well for where I’m at in my career with my young family.<\/p>\n

“I’m fully committed to finishing my time here the right way. I love this club, the people, and our supporters, and I’ll keep giving everything I’ve got into the season ahead.”<\/p>\n

Papali’i played 37 tests for the All Blacks after debuting in 2019, but played just once for the national side in 2025.<\/p>\n

Papali’i (98 games) is on track to become a Blues centurion during Round 3’s match against the Brumbies in Canberra.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blues captain Dalton Papali’i. Photo: Andrew Cornaga\/www.photosport.nz Blues captain Dalton Papali’i will leave New Zealand rugby at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-287186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}