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'Please stop' - Wellington crowd criticised by anti-boo brigade online for their treatment of Beauden Barrett
Beauden Barrett’s first game in Wellington since leaving the Hurricanes was always going to draw the ire of his former hometown crowd.
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The former Hurricanes first five was building a career as one of the club’s all-time greats, perhaps their best ever player, before leaving to take up an irresistible deal with the Blues.
Despite their individual feats, legends Ma’a Nonu, Jerry Collins, Tana Umaga and Christian Cullen all failed to bring a championship to the club. Beauden Barrett was integral in securing the inaugural Super Rugby title in 2016, and became the face of the franchise.
There was no player more central to the Hurricanes team than Barrett, so his sudden departure at the peak of his career to another New Zealand Super Rugby club was an understandably emotional split.
The Hurricanes’ fans in attendance at Sky Stadium welcomed Barrett in typical fashion, and would not stop booing anytime their former hero touched the ball and the boos intensified as Barrett took over the kicking duties late in the second half.
This expected response did not go down well with overseas fans, who lambasted the Wellington crowd for their efforts calling them ’embarrassing’ and ‘pathetic’. The anti-boo brigade lead the charge on Twitter calling for the booing to stop.
https://twitter.com/laurie_winkless/status/1284404495519068161
Can the crowd stop fucking booing Beauden like that??? There’s no need #HURvBLU
— TYRANT (@LucyF3r8) July 18, 2020
Pathetic booing of Beauden Barrett in Wellingtoni. Just saying
— Born To Be Free! (@sheepdoggies) July 18, 2020
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https://twitter.com/JPu02/status/1284386425304014848
NZ commentators complaining about NZ crowd booing Barrett ask “surely they can’t keep this up all day?”. What do you think @QuadeCooper? @GAGR @therugbyruckus
— Richard (@Latho99) July 18, 2020
@Hurricanesrugby fans should grow up. Booing Beauden Barrett is not on!
— Angus (@AngyboyJ) July 18, 2020
My niece is not impressed that they are booing Beauden Barrett.
— Mbuyiseli ? (@LwaziSomya) June 20, 2020
Barrett answered the booing with a brilliant solo try 10 minutes into the game, fittingly his first for the Blues, by slicing straight through the middle of the Hurricanes defence and using his speed to gas the cover defence.
However this did nothing to stop the crowd’s efforts to make the Blues fullback know how they feel.
https://twitter.com/brent_nooroa/status/1284386457742761984
Not everyone was upset with the crowd’s response, with others seeing the lighter side of the crowd’s behaviour.
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Halftime:
Barrett: "Are they booing me, Leon?"
MacDonald: "No sir. They're saying Boo-arrett, Boo-arrett".#HURvBLU
— Max Power (@jrodbourn) July 18, 2020
Hurricanes booing Beauden Barrett is the content I love to hear ???
— Thala Msutu (@ThalaMsutu77) July 18, 2020
Keep on booing the Barrett in Blue ‘canes fans #Blues #SuperRugbyAotearoa
— Greg (@Gregwithoneg) July 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/Dangurangu/status/1284430821072474112
In the end, chants of ‘Jordie, Jordie, Jordie’ rained down for the younger Barrett as he lined up a potential clutch conversion from the sideline to put the Hurricanes up by two with minutes remaining.
The Hurricanes’ fullback answered the calls with a brilliant kick to spark wild celebrations by the home crowd as they went up 29-27.
A rather dubious decision to let the Hurricanes get away with a back peddling scrum on the final play robbed Beauden of a potential long-range penalty goal shot to steal the game back in injury time.
TJ Perenara was able to clear the ball into touch and secure the Hurricanes third straight victory.
Beauden Barrett’s first game back in Wellington ended with a tight loss but it likely won’t be the last time he is booed at the Caketin.
One just has to remember how the New Zealand crowds treated Quade Cooper with the boos lasting years before they died out after the infamous knee on Richie McCaw in a Brisbane Bledisloe Cup match.
If that is anything to go by, Beauden will have to get used to rough receptions in New Zealand’s capital.
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments