He’ll be gagging for a game come September 2016.
The New Zealand Rugby Union have cracked down on its players jumping ship and heading to Europe to ply their trade.
NZRU chief executive Steve Tew has confirmed that Charles Piutau, who will join Ulster in June 2016, will not be allowed to play for his Auckland Blues side next season.
The All Blacks winger had hoped to play the first half of the 2016 Super Rugby season, following his hopeful involvement in his side’s World Cup campaign. He could have played 11 regular season games before heading for Belfast.
Instead, Piutau may need to find alternate employment – Top League [Japan], early arrival at Ulster and medical joker/short-term contract with another European side are some of his options.
Speaking to Radio Sport, Tew commented, ‘When players are coming back [to New Zealand] or departing, we have a policy framework we use which largely rewards players who have shown some loyalty and longevity to New Zealand rugby.
‘There are some trigger points where you might make some exceptions, particularly if they’re going to be available for the whole campaign. We’ve done that particularly for guys who are returning from Japan. Jerome Kaino from the Blues was granted some leniency in that regard and we’ve done it for others.
‘We looked at Charles and while he is a well-known player he has played only three or four full seasons of Super Rugby anyway and he doesn’t trigger our policy. He cannot stay for the full campaign.’ Tew added:
‘We’re in charge of one of the most precious gems in New Zealand society – we don’t play cheap shots or make knee-jerk reactions.
‘On balance we’ve said look, Charles is committed to another future for the next three years, he’s not playing in New Zealand for a very long period of time and we’re better to get on without him and let some other player have that jersey and develop themselves in this country and not set a precedent we wouldn’t want to live with, frankly, because in our view we’ve got to look after the integrity of our competition and our policy of rewarding players who stay and play in New Zealand.’
Auckland Blues had previously stated that they would have been happy to keep Piutau for the start of next season.
The 23-year-old, who has 14 caps with the All Blacks [and four tries], is out for the rest of the 2015 Super Rugby season with a leg injury.
When contacted by SportsJOE, Ulster Rugby stated that they are unable to bring Piutau in any sooner as all of their Non-Irish Qualified slots are taken up, until June 2016.
