All Blacks stand as centrepiece in New Zealand Rugby’s battle to retain key players
Sunday, 22 March 2026
ANALYSIS: The monolith that is the All Blacks stands at the centre of a New Zealand rugby elite talent ecosystem, seemingly both the solution and the problem concurrently to a player retention environment that is proving more and more challenging as each year passes.
As New Zealand rugby continues to lose a swathe of experienced performers to offshore opportunities, questions keep being asked by those with the interests of the game in this country at their hearts. How much is too much talent to lose? Are we doing enough to keep players in New Zealand? How can the trend be bucked?
Already, with Super Rugby Pacific 2026 just into its second month, 10 leading players from the five New Zealand franchises have confirmed departures for offshore deals at season end. More will be to come, for sure, with new signings for the lucrative and appealing Japan market still to come.
These are not the cream of the All Blacks crop, by any means. And the number is not alarming. Yet. Among the 10 who have confirmed exits in the customary pre-World Cup exodus, only one player – Crusaders wing Sevu Reece – was part of the 2025 national squad.
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But they are still important figures nonetheless, part of the second-tier at the pointy end of the New Zealand game. Men who have made it as far as the test pinnacle, but failed to stick there. Or fellows nipping away at the heels of the best players in the country, but yet to be called into the team they crave most to play for.
The Blues, Hurricanes and Crusaders each have a trio hitting the exit doors. Former All Blacks Dalton Papali’i and Hoskins Sotutu, as well as experienced utility back AJ Lam, are leaving the Blues for pastures north. The Canes will wave goodbye to stalwart forwards Pouri Rakete-Stones and Isaia Walker-:Leawere and promising wing Fehi Fineanganofo, while the Crusaders lose three influential backs in Reece, nine-cap midfielder Braydon Ennor and Dallas McLeod.
The Chiefs’ Etene Nanai-Seturo is the latest heading for the departure gates, announcing his intention to take up a three-year deal with Clermont in France and explaining why, at just 26, he’s given up on his All Blacks dream to take the sort of deal just not available to him on these shores.
“That’s everyone’s dream in New Zealand [to play for the All Blacks],” he said. “The players [the All Blacks] have, man, they’ve been playing unreal footy. You’ve got Will Jordan at the back, who’s a freak, D-Mac (Damian McKenzie), also Leroy [Carter] and Ronzo (Emoni Narawa) in there, and [Caleb] Tangitau who’s coming up as well,
“I just feel like it’s my time to go … like I needed a change. I guess everyone is running their own race – I’ve got to do what’s best for me, and my partner.”
Right now 10 is a manageable number for New Zealand rugby, and the five franchises. But if it grows significantly – which it could – there would be less comfort in the impact it will have. If the trickle becomes a torrent, then it will be time for the string-pullers at HQ to contemplate further action.
Blues coach Vern Cotter, who will hand his squad over to a new coach in 2027, believes the player exodus should already have alarm bells ringing at NZ Rugby. As well as Papali’i, Sotutu and Lam, the Auks could see several other stalwarts join them out the exit door. Remember, they lost Mark Tele’a (in his All Blacks pomp), Harry Plummer, Akira Ioane and Ricky Riccitelli last year.
Cotter believed losing a player of Pappali’i’s quality – consistently among his best performers on a weekly basis – in the prime of his career hurt the game in this country.
“I think we should be [concerned].” he told the Star-Times after Papali’i’s departure was confirmed. “We need to have better alignment and earlier conversations with players such as Dalton who are part of the so-called second tier. He felt he had more to contribute [to the All Blacks] but wasn’t invited, so he made a decision to move.
“I think we need to be more open around our conversations with NZ Rugby around talent identification and retention. There’s a whole thing we can all be implicated with to stop key players like him leaving. AJ is going to hurt as well, and Hoskins. We need these players in New Zealand. They develop intellectual property, and they pass it on to the younger players.”
To their credit, NZ Rugby and their partners at the Players Association are not sitting on their hands. The new collective bargaining agreement makes a serious attempt to address the issue Cotter is talking about with the formation of a $750,000 pool to top up Super Rugby payments to targeted players who fall outside the national contracting model. Also a “loyalty” top-up payment for longer-serving stalwarts is set to come on board.
The idea is that these middle-tier players, many of whom are the lifeblood of their franchises, and who also play crucial roles for the All Blacks XV, and their provinces, receive pay deals more commensurate with their value.
Whether they’re enough to stave off raids from cashed-up, deep-pocketed clubs in Japan, France, the UK and Ireland remains to be seen. It’s likely that $750,000 figure needs to double, or triple.
Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw was asked this week about rumours his hard-nosed loose forward Devan Flanders was being courted by Japanese clubs, and might soon be about to announce his departure..
“There’s definitely plenty of players looking overseas,” said Laidlaw who this week re-upped his own commitment to the Canes through 2027. “It’s quite difficult to keep these players in the country. The money overseas, if you’re a non-All Black is big … probably four times, sometimes more, than what Super Rugby players can get. I’m not surprised a lot of players are being targeted, including Devan, if he is.”
As ever, with the issue of player retention, the All Blacks, far and away New Zealand Rugby’s most significant revenue generator, are central to discussions. In many ways, they are both the solution and the problem.
The reason NZ Rugby is so steadfast on its ironclad ruling that they will only pick All Blacks from players contracted in New Zealand is that they realise the power that simple resolution has in retaining talent within these shores. Without it, with contenders able to be picked from points asunder, the floodgates would assuredly open.
Those that run the New Zealand game are acutely aware that this is a ruling written in stone. It will not change. Nor should it.
New Zealand’s economy means this country simply cannot compete with the likes of Japan, France and the UK in pure dollar terms with its contracting. Yes, it can identify key All Blacks, load up their deals, add sponsorship and marketing layers if need be, and retain a chosen few.
But to keep a layer of talent in this country to underpin five franchises, to ensure New Zealand teams remain at the forefront of Super Rugby, that standards stay high, and that those five teams continue to produce talent to fill the national ranks, they need an incentive for players to remain in the Kiwi eco-system.
Picking All Blacks from here does that.
Even while, at the same time, some players also reach a fatigue point where they realise their All Blacks dreams will not be fulfilled, and cut loose anyway. Nanai-Seturo being a case in point. Or others (such as Leicester Fainga’anuku) back themselves to take short-term offers, cash in, and come back later, as better players, and still chase those ambitions.
So, when new national coach Dave Rennie raises the enticing prospect that long-serving lock Brodie Retallick could still be an effective All Black, even after three seasons in Japan, he’s not suggesting a rewriting of the golden rule. He’s more emphasising that minds should not be closed on the possibility of massaging said regulations to achieve optimum outcomes, as has been done with sabbaticals.
Beauden Barrett has played two seasons in Japan, yet remains a viable All Black. Ardie Savea is about to return after his second stint there. Ditto. Richie Mo’unga is coming back, too, for another couple of seasons in the black jersey.
As key men depart, others return. Maybe being more targeted, more deliberate and more impactful with luring back some mighty warriors might be one way to buck a concerning trend.
Notable New Zealand Super Rugby players heading offshore after the ‘26 season:
Blues: Dalton Papalii (Castres), Hoskins Sotutu (Newcastle), AJ Lam (Clermont).
Chiefs: Etene Nanai-Seturo (Clermont).
Hurricanes: Fehi Fineanganofo (Newcastle), Isaia Walker-Leawere (Benetton), Pouri Rakete-Stones (Newcastle).
Crusaders: Dallas McLeod (Exeter), Sevu Reece (Perpignan), Braydon Ennor (Perpignan).