All Blacks captain Scott Barrett nearing return as Crusaders fight for their playoff lives

Wednesday, 22 April 2026

All Blacks captain Scott Barrett is on the cusp of making his Crusaders return.

The 32-year-old is back training with the defending champions, and is expected to play in the next few weeks, head coach Rob Penney confirmed.

Penney was speaking after the full Crusaders squad trained at their new indoor stadium for the first time on Wednesday, ahead of Friday night’s Super Round opener against the Waratahs at One New Zealand Stadium.

Barrett took part in the session, which would have been a slippery one had the team been training at their Rugby Park headquarters due to a couple of heavy showers, and is expected to increase his workload next week.

“He's looking in great shape, and it's awesome that he's had that period off to get his body right and freshen his mind,” Penney said.

“He looks highly engaged and his training intensity will lift over the next week or so and we'll just see how his body reacts. He's not far away.”

Barrett has been on a non-playing sabbatical, and opted to have surgery to repair a troublesome ankle and Achilles during his break from the game.

Much has gone down since he’s been out of action, most notably the effective sacking of All Blacks coach Scott Robertson in January.

It remains unclear if new head coach Dave Rennie will stick with Barrett as captain when he names his first squad at the conclusion of Super Rugby.

Regardless, the Crusaders could sure do with his services after bumbling to a 4-5 record, leaving them clinging on to sixth on the ladder.

As Penney conceded, they’re in must-win territory, starting with the Waratahs if they’re to leave enough runway for Barrett and a bunch of other reinforcements to rejoin them in time for another title push.

That includes loose forward Cullen Grace, who is also back training with the Crusaders, who close out the regular season with four straight New Zealand derbies.

Grace busted the patella in his knee while captaining Canterbury during last year’s NPC championship, and hasn’t played since last August.

“He's not far away, he will probably have to come back via club footy. He just needs to face some physical challenges. He is moving now, it's been a massively long period off for him, we've just got to do the right thing by him integration wise,” Penney said.

Ethan Blackadder (calf) is expected back next week, while fullback Will Jordan (calf) is likely to return in the next few weeks. Wing Chay Fihaki faces a race against time to return from a hamstring injury before the playoffs.

With All Blacks prop Tamaiti Williams out for the season with a back infection, the Crusaders’ injury ward has hovered in the double-digits the majority of the season, bringing back memories of the disastrous 2024 campaign.

“As soon as you lose somebody, it tends to disrupt your rhythm a bit, and as you can see, our injured list is quite long,” Penney said.

“But we've got a group that's capable. The tour of Australia was so disappointing because we got ourselves close to be able to do better and we just couldn't close out.'

The Crusaders face the Hurricanes (away), Blues (home), Chiefs (home) and Hurricanes (home) after the Waratahs.