Leinster confirm signing of All Black back Jordie Barrett on short-term deal
Leinster Rugby have unveiled some major business for the 2024/25 season with the news that New Zealand international Jordie Barrett is set to join the province on a short-term deal later this year.
The younger brother of fellow All Blacks Scott and Beauden, Barrett will link up with Leinster in December after he opted to exercise an option to play overseas in a new contract extension he has signed with the New Zealand Rugby Union.
A senior international debutant with his native country in 2017, the 27-year-old Hurricanes star has gone on to accumulate 57 caps in the All Blacks jersey.
Having helped them to achieve a third-place finish at the 2019 finals in Japan, he featured alongside his brothers at Stade de France last October as New Zealand suffered an agonising one-point defeat to South Africa in the showpiece decider of the 2023 World Cup.
Jacques Nienaber was head coach of his opponents for that encounter, but Barrett will now have a chance to work with the defence specialist when he dons the blue of Leinster next season.
While he will only be on board until the end of the 2024/25 campaign, this is a significant marquee signing that will be met with considerable enthusiasm by the supporters of the eastern province.
Although he was selected at inside centre for last year’s World Cup final, he will also be an option to Leinster head coach Leo Cullen at out-half and across the back-three.
It won’t be the first time for Barett to reside on Irish soil as he previously lived with his family in Oldcastle, Co. Meath for a 15-month period beginning in 2000.
This is something Barrett was keen to reference in a Leinster press release that served as their official announcement of his arrival to the province at the end of the current calendar year.
“Ireland is a special place for the Barrett family. We’ve got so many great family connections in Oldcastle, in County Meath and throughout Dublin. To have an opportunity to go back and meet some family and friends and connections that were made 20 years ago is pretty cool,” Barrett remarked.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said Barrett chose to join the province “ahead of a number of other very attractive options”.
“As a whole, I think this move is going to be really challenging, but a positive challenge,” Barrett added.
“Heading north to different conditions, different teams, different referees – I think it will open my game up, make me see the game differently and I’ll ultimately bring the best bits back to New Zealand rugby and into a Test jersey, ideally, at the end of it.
“The reality of being a professional athlete is that you’ve only got a small window to have these opportunities and I’d love to be sitting there in twenty or thirty years with my kids or grandkids, knowing that I left no stone unturned, and I took up this opportunity to better myself.”