All Blacks superstar Beauden Barrett is set to miss the 2021 Super Rugby season after inking a deal with Japanese side Suntory Sungoliath. Barrett will still be eligible to represent the All Blacks in 2021 when returns to New Zealand for the international season.

The flexibility in Barrett’s contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZR), allow him to skip Super Rugby in 2021. He will then remain in New Zealand until the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The overseas playing rule remains a bone of contention for the purist at the NZR. Overseas players are ineligible to represent the national side. Current World Cup holders, South Africa, have been one of the few nations to relax this law in recent years. It worked to perfection in Japan in 2019, when they lifted the Rugby World Cup.

Barrett only switched from the Hurricanes to the Auckland Blues in 2020. Coach Leon McDonald was aware that Barrett, was looking to exercise the sabbatical clause in his contract with NZR. The Blues coach confirmed with NZ media that they were aware of Barrett’s plan before he signed with the Blues.