How the All Blacks broke Argentina open with Jordie Barrett
The All Blacks have been searching for a No 12 who can deliver the direct game plan reserved for the likes of Argentina, South Africa and France for some time now.
In Mendoza Jordie Barrett played his fourth Test at second five-eighth and his first against one of those physical opponents in the midfield.
He produced a stoic performance, charging into the Pumas’ defence with no regard for safety, offering Foster and the coaches assurance he can be the lynchpin to deliver a direct game plan.
It has been called the ‘Javelin’ attack, and many All Black 12s have run the same set of plays before him; Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams, Anton Lienert-Brown, Jack Goodhue, David Havili.
It has been a staple of former head coach Steve Hansen and Ian Foster’s playbook for a number of years.
There are a couple of variations of the same play, one is a pass direct off the halfback to the No 12 and the other is one pass wider from the No 10 to vary the point of attack.
Each variation of the play is centred around the No 12 running a hard line into the defence and taking the role of the primary playmaker.
The outside centre angles in as a short option outside 12, with the No 10 and blindside winger floating around the edge to overload the far side.
The 12 has multiple options at their disposal and is tasked with making the read based on what the defence gives.
It’s a common launch play across professional rugby, but a specific type of 12 is required to get the most out of it.
The 6’5 Barrett combined with the 6’2 Ioane offers plenty of size for the opposition to consider, and against Argentina the All Blacks found the most success they’ve had with the set of plays since Sonny Bill Williams.
Throughout the first half Barrett kept things simple, he used Ioane on the short ball once and ran the crash line on every other occasion.
The Pumas’ line speed was faster early in the game and Barrett’s carries kept them honest.
The All Blacks rolled out the heavy artillery to confront Argentina after Barrett’s carry, using the likes of Shannon Frizell, Ardie Savea, and Scott Barrett coming around the corner on the phases thereafter to break down the blue and white wall. Savea bagged a try close to the line following one of these sequences.
Barrett had limited time to play any of his pass options due to the line speed, but the opportunity was developing.
The Pumas’ new midfield pair Lucio Cinti (12) and Matias Moroni (13) were not well versed with each other.
While Moroni is experienced, Cinti played on the wing last year in New Zealand and has 12 caps.
Sebastian Cancelliere, 12 caps, was a late replacement for Bautista Delguy on the right wing and young Mateo Carreras was on the left.
They would be tested in the second half when the All Blacks’ backs decided to finally release wide out the back.
On the first attacking chance in the second half, Barrett played McKenzie out the back to take advantage of the growing disconnect between the centre-wing channel.
Barrett was given early ball to attack the space out wide but Carreras was up to the task and managed to bring the fullback down as he tried to get to the outside.
The All Blacks got a chance shortly after to run the play again going the other way, towards the right wing with Cancelliere and reserve midfielder Matias Orlando.
Barrett and Ioane executed their running lines perfectly, drawing contact and creating the block required for McKenzie to scamper around the corner.
Argentina had the play well-covered and a slight slip up by Orlando is what cost them.
He didn’t bite on Ioane’s line underneath him, but with McKenzie coming around the corner at pace he was caught at a standstill.
The All Black No 10 was able to make the line break and then found the final pass to Beauden Barrett unmarked outside for a slick set piece try.
They tried a chip kick variation on the next attempt, bringing all of Jordie Barrett’s skills to the table.
The Hurricanes’ second five-eighth possesses more power and size than David Havili of the Crusaders, whilst running straighter than Havili demonstrated at times in the past couple of seasons.
Barrett has quickly become the answer at No 12 which has changed the whole dynamic of the backline. Foster has the second five he needs to run his playbook.
He proved that he can handle the physicality from the Argentinians, only getting into trouble once where he was almost held up and turned.
The Test against South Africa will be another good challenge for Barrett in his evolution into a Test midfielder.
Another impressive performance will seal the deal for Barrett as the All Blacks’ 12 heading into the World Cup.
Comments on RugbyPass
Does a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
128 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
128 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
128 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
128 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to comments