All Black and Hurricanes star Jordie Barrett says he isn't embarrassed about events that led to police being called when he and a friend ended up in a stranger's house eating takeaways in the early hours yesterday.
Barrett told media this morning he and his friend Sam Casey had entered the house early on Saturday thinking it was a friend's place.
"I can't say I'm embarrassed by what's happened, I'm just disappointed with the events that have unfolded," Barrett said.
"I don't believe I've caused any harm to anyone, haven't spoken to anyone, basically it was a human error, walked into the wrong flat and we left."
As reported in the Herald on Sunday, police were called about 5am yesterday as a result of the incident.
"[It was the] wrong flat, basically that's all that it is. He thought it was his mates' house but it wasn't, so we left," Barrett said today.
"So I'm assuming they'd called the cops because they might have heard someone in their house, because we walked into the house thinking it was Sam's mates.
"A few minutes later the penny dropped, he realised it wasn't his mates' house, we left, and then the cops came.
"They came and questioned us, asked a few questions and then we were released and then went back to the hotel."
Barrett said he "had a couple drinks in town with mates and basically can recall everything that happened that night and I was not intoxicated".
Hurricanes players were not set a curfew following their loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday night.
Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee told Stuff that Barrett did not break any team rules, but the incident would be addressed after his All Blacks duties.
"There wasn't a curfew, but we obviously have certain expectations around alcohol and being out late. That's something we'll speak to Jordie about when he comes into camp," he said.
Following the game, there was a team meal and celebration in their team room for their captain Brad Shields' 100th Super Rugby cap.
Lee said that the celebrations wrapped up around 1.30am and Barrett left to meet up with his friend, Sam Casey.
Jordie Barrett breaks away for a try. Photo / Getty Images
The pair had stopped for McDonald's and were eating in the living room when two women came out of their bedrooms, Casey said.
Casey, 22, said it was a case of "a couple of muppets making a stupid error after a few beers".
"We never intended to do anything wrong. The door was unlocked and we thought it was our mate's place, which it turns out is over the road."
Casey, who works for NZME, the publisher of the Herald, said they apologised and left as soon as they were challenged by the tenants.
"They were pretty upset and rightly so," he said.
Lee said he had spoken to Barrett twice since the incident and believes it was just an innocent mistake.
"It a genuine mistake. I've spoken to Jordie twice, I know Jordie reasonably well and he's very trustworthy. He's young, he knows he's made a mistake, but there's nothing more to it than that. There was nothing sinister involved."
"One of the key things for me was Jordie wasn't intoxicated. He'd certainly had a few beers, but he wasn't drunk, he wasn't disorderly," Lee said.
Barrett returned to Wellington with the team yesterday morning and will be in All Blacks cap for the next three weeks during the French series.
