All Blacks star Beauden Barrett was missing from training today in Whakatane, suggesting wife Hannah may have gone into labour.
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Hannah is almost 40 weeks pregnant with their baby girl.
While speaking to media today, Crusaders and All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock may have even slipped the news.
"Beauden's not here ... all the best for Beauds and Hannah at the moment," he said.
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Last week, Barrett said he was taking a wait and see approach to his availability in the upcoming Rugby Championship after suggestion from one media outlet that some All Blacks were considering pulling out of the competition for family reasons.
Barrett was interviewed on Gold AM's Country Sport Breakfast and said that he thought "journos are getting a bit excited – have too much time to think of what ifs and all that sort of thing".
But he wasn't definitive about his availability either, only saying that Taranaki's Ranfurly Shield challenge against Canterbury on Saturday "could be my last game for a couple of weeks."
"We don't have much in front of us, in facts and details. It's hard to make a decision," he said.
"As professional rugby players we're required to turn up and perform – it's not every day you get to pull on the black jersey. It's not something you take lightly, that decision.
"This thing is changing every day, it is not even confirmed that South Africa and Argentina will come over. There's a lot of water to go under the bridge."
