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Beauden Barrett has 'bounced back' from latest concussion scare

By AAP
(Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

Two-time word player of the year Beauden Barrett says he has “bounced back” well from his latest head knock and is ready to return to action for the Auckland Blues in Super Rugby Pacific.

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All Blacks five eighth Barrett, who only recently returned to action following a concussion suffered against Ireland in November, was forced off in the Blues’ 32-25 victory over the Highlanders in Dunedin on March 26.

The 30-year-old was taken off in the 41st minute after a collision with Highlanders centre Fetuli Paea.

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“I was very relieved to wake up on the Sunday morning after the game feeling clear in my head. I just had a very sore neck,” Barrett told news website Stuff.

“It’s all good, especially considering where I’d been, and the things I did to get back to playing.

“I’m confident in being back playing and psychologically it’s great to get back out there. There was a little scare from that Highlanders game, but I’ve bounced back from it well.

“There is nothing to be concerned about from a head point of view.”

Barrett said last month his recovery period in the aftermath of the injury suffered against Ireland was “extremely challenging”.

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The Blues take on the Chiefs on April 9 before facing the Crusaders on April 15.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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