Ruby Tui returns for Barbarians after year away but keeps future plans open

Ruby Tui will make her first public return to rugby in nearly 12 months when she starts on the wing for Susie Appleby’s Barbarians against Wales at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, part of a doubleheader alongside the men’s fixture. The 34-year-old Black Ferns star was omitted from Allan Bunting’s Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 squad in July 2024, 13 days after scoring a try from the bench in a 37-12 win over the Wallaroos in the Laurie O’Reilly Cup.

Tui was quick to clarify that Saturday is not a comeback from complete inactivity. “I’ve played on the low and in private,” she said, acknowledging that social media had made it difficult to keep those low-key appearances entirely under wraps. In the intervening months she has worked as a pundit, drawing on her Communications and Media degree from the University of Canterbury to offer analysis on the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, and Premiership Women’s Rugby.

What happens after Saturday remains deliberately unanswered. Asked repeatedly this week whether she might sign for a Premiership Women’s Rugby club or outline a concrete plan, Tui gave the same response each time. “I can’t comment on that until I run out there and see what it’s like,” she told RugbyPass. “I’m kind of like, just let me put the boots on and see how it all goes. I’m looking forward to the next chapter. Let’s see what happens.”

The question of retirement has clearly occupied her thinking. Tui said she has sought counsel from a number of former All Blacks, who urged her not to rush the decision. “They were all like, just don’t rush your decision. There’s no need to rush it,” she said. “For a woman as well, it’s a pretty new thing — a female professional rugby player retiring. I’m talking to a lot of my friends about it. One of my best mates, Portia [Woodman-Wickliffe], did it about three times. I’m not about to do that.”

Saturday’s women’s fixture carries additional weight beyond Tui’s return. Laura Delgado, Christine Belisle, Rachel Lund, and Celia Quansah are all set to play their final matches. In the men’s game, George North will line up for the Barbarians against Wales in the last appearance of his career, continuing the fixture’s long tradition as a farewell stage for the sport’s biggest names.