{"id":414215,"date":"2026-05-06T08:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T08:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414215\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T08:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T08:01:09","slug":"scott-barretts-return-to-crusaders-complicated-by-squeaky-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414215\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Barrett’s return to Crusaders complicated by ‘squeaky moments’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott Barrett\u2019s return to the Crusaders from his non-playing sabbatical has been complicated by a couple of injury niggles.<\/p>\n

Barrett, the All Blacks captain who was due to return for the defending champions after next weekend\u2019s bye, may have to bide his time a little longer, according to Crusaders head coach Rob Penney today.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old had surgery on troublesome ankle and Achilles issues in December before a break designed to freshen him up ahead of next year\u2019s World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n

But, as his training intensity increases, so have other issues.<\/p>\n

Scott Barrett return in doubt ahead of Crusaders’ must-win clash – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

Asked today ahead of the Crusaders’ crunch match against the Blues at Christchurch\u2019s new stadium on Friday whether Barrett would return as hinted for the final two round-robin matches of the season, Penney said: \u201cProbably not \u2013 again, we\u2019re taking that one week at a time but he\u2019s just struggling to get to where he wants to be as he gets his body right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked about it about a month ago\u2026 as his intensity ramps up was his body going to be able cope with that and it just has got a couple of squeaky moments that he needs to work his way through, so we\u2019ll see when he\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queried on whether the issues were related to his surgery, Penney said: \u201cNo, he\u2019s got through that \u2013 it\u2019s other parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the Anzac Weekend \u201csuper round\u201d, which opened Christchurch\u2019s One NZ Te Kaha facility, Penney said of Barrett: \u201cHe\u2019s looking in great shape, and it\u2019s awesome that he\u2019s had that period off to get his body right and freshen his mind.<\/p>\n

\"Hurricanes<\/p>\n

Hurricanes flanker Peter Lakai makes a break against the Crusaders during their win last weekend. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looks highly engaged and his training intensity will lift over the next week or so and we\u2019ll just see how his body reacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not far away.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may be a coincidence, but Barrett has been less visible to the media recently. <\/p>\n

The Crusaders, currently fifth on the table, could do with Barrett\u2019s quality and experience for the finish of what has been a less than convincing campaign.<\/p>\n

As they were in 2024, when they finished outside the playoffs, the Crusaders have lacked consistency this year and their defence too easily breached.<\/p>\n

After an important \u201csuper round\u201d victory over the Waratahs<\/a> in their first match at Te Kaha, they suffered another setback in Wellington last weekend when losing 38-31 to the Hurricanes.<\/a><\/p>\n

They play their final three matches at their new stadium, with the Chiefs and Hurricanes to come after the bye.<\/p>\n

Apart from the immediate issue of Barrett\u2019s return, there remains uncertainty over whether new All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie will retain him as captain, with Ardie Savea, who plays under Rennie at Kobe in Japan, the favourite to take the honour.<\/p>\n

In an interview in March, Barrett said he had not been informed of Rennie\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, nothing yet,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cI think he\u2019s still working through his coaching team and management from what I understand. I\u2019ll sort of wait for that conversation, I guess, and until then I think I\u2019ll just keep chipping away with my rehab and pre-season and look forward to getting back and playing some rugby soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to get that right \u2013 or better than what it has been in the last couple of years. That\u2019s probably the number one priority at the moment for me and looking to get back for the Crusaders the tail end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Barrett\u2019s return to the Crusaders from his non-playing sabbatical has been complicated by a couple of injury…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,33339,56380,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-414215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-blues","tag-crusaders","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414215","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=414215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}