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Calls for Mo'unga to wear All Blacks 10 jersey intensify after another Crusaders defeat for Barrett
A fourth consecutive defeat for the Hurricanes against the Crusaders has once again raised question marks over who should wear the All Blacks 10 jersey after Barrett’s less-than-impressive showing on Friday night.
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New Zealand fans from the South Island have long been calling for Mo’unga to take over, with Steve Hansen having to publicly pour water over the debate claiming that Crusaders have a ‘Rolls Royce’ pack in defence of his incumbent.
The Crusaders romped to a 32-8 win in ‘Beauden’s house’, leading to many fans asking for Barrett’s benching with the All Blacks.
Beauden Barrett has had a really bad game today. And that’s not just the intercepts he’s been throwing all over. He’s done pretty much nothing to get the team going. #HURvCRU
— Moses Rudende (BEWILDERED HERD MEMBER #0069) (@rudende) March 29, 2019
Richie Mo'unga once again outplayed Beauden Barrett, this time round it was at Beaudens house. 🔴⚫ #HURvCRU #United #likenoother
— Malcolm Dixon-Searle (@SearleDixon) March 29, 2019
On this first half performance alone Richie Mo'unga should be a shoe in for All Blacks 10 & Beauden Barrett would be lucky to get the bench position. #HURvCRU #SuperRugby
— Arshad Daud (@Arshad_Daud) March 29, 2019
Two intercepts thrown by Beauden Barrett tonight, plus a ton of passes that found grass.
How often do you see that?#HURvCRU
— Michael Pulman 🇳🇿🏉♿️ (@realmikepulman) March 29, 2019
#HURvCRU That awkward moment when Mo'unga just outplayed the 2x world player of the yr 😏😭
— 👋🏽 Joe (@joenotaverage) March 29, 2019
After two cheap tries on the back of mistakes in the Hurricanes back three, the Crusaders built a healthy lead which the Hurricanes had to chase. In similar circumstances to the game in Christchurch last year, Barrett’s errors compounded as they tried to find a way back into the game.
The RugbyPass Index has seen Richie Mo’unga overtake Barrett on the back of early season Super Rugby form, the second time in the last 12-months he has done so.
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With just 38% possession the Crusaders outscored the Hurricanes four tries to one, bouncing back from their loss in Sydney last week in emphatic fashion. The win secured top spot in the conference for the Crusaders while the Hurricanes maintained second place but slipped five competition points behind.
Barrett will get the chance to rebound in another Kiwi derby against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday night while the Crusaders will host the Brumbies in Christchurch.
Michael Cheika talks to RugbyPass:
Comments on RugbyPass
What ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
129 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
129 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
129 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
129 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
129 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
129 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
129 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
129 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
129 Go to commentsHo hum.
129 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
129 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
129 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
129 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
129 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
129 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
129 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
129 Go to comments