Rennie confirms Scott Barrett closing in on All Blacks return for Bledisloe Cup

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has confirmed that former captain Scott Barrett is on course to return for October’s Bledisloe Cup Tests against the Wallabies, offering a significant boost to New Zealand’s 34-man squad after a gruelling seven-week tour of North America.

Barrett, who missed the entire 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season with the Crusaders and has not featured under Rennie’s tenure, is expected to be available alongside versatile outside-back Leicester Fainga’anuku, who sustained a fibula fracture late in the Super Rugby campaign. “Scott Barrett should be back in time for that as well, and people like Leicester Fainga’anuku — so we’ve lost a few, but we’ll get a few back, which is positive,” Rennie told the travelling New Zealand media in Baltimore.

The news is tempered by the confirmed absences of current captain Ardie Savea and vice-captain Luke Jacobson, both of whom will sit out the two Tests against Les Kiss’ Wallabies. Rennie acknowledged the squad will be shaped around those losses. “We’ve already had a little bit of a think around what that might look like, knowing that Luke Jacobson and Ardie, those sorts of guys, will be out,” he said.

Midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown is also a concern after leaving the field in the first half of the tour’s final match with a knee complaint. Rennie offered cautious optimism, describing it as “a little MCL issue” and confirming that scans had ruled out an ACL tear. “We will find out whether there’s anything else there as well, so it’s not an ACL, which is good,” he said.

Two other players — Quinn Tupaea and Anton Segner — were sent home early during the tour through injury, but Rennie expressed confidence that both would be available for the Eden Park and Perth fixtures. “We’re confident that Quinn will be back in time for that, and Anton Segner should be pretty close.”

New Zealand will take a two-week break before naming their squad for the Bledisloe Cup, which serves as the opening series of the Rugby Championship.