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How Scott Barrett performs in Super Rugby Pacific is not a big deal
Sam Whitelock’s greatest feat was to play Super Rugby like he cared.
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I mention that in light of talk among rugby’s chattering classes that All Blacks captain Scott Barrett isn’t playing to his absolute potential.
It’s one of those discussions you have when you’ve run out of anything meaningful to talk about.
All Blacks, particularly seasoned ones on the Crusaders’ books, who pace themselves through a Super campaign are not new. Richie McCaw, Daniel Carter and Kieran Read often played like men who knew their real rugby lay ahead of them.
With all due respect, Super Rugby Pacific is a competition Barrett needs to find a way to get through before he can get on with his real job.
I imagine his training loads are geared towards that and that we’ll see the best of him when it actually counts.
It says a lot about the kind of competitor Whitelock was that we never had to wonder aloud about his form during a Super season.
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All that’s an aside, really.
If there’s an issue with Barrett, it’s that he’s not an elite player. He’s a fine and admirable footballer, but not absolutely world class.
That’s not a knock on him. Barrett gives you what he’s got, but there’s a reason he was behind Whitelock and Brodie Retallick in the All Blacks’ locking pecking order for so long.
Again, there’s no shame in that and this is not an implied criticism of Barrett. It’s just reflective of the status of Whitelock and Retallick as all-time greats.
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I made no secret of the fact that I thought Ardie Savea should’ve been named as All Blacks captain last year.
There’s the public relations aspect, given New Zealand Rugby’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, of having a Pasifika player bestowed with that honour.
But, much more than that, it’s about rugby and never having your place in the team questioned.
I understand why Barrett was chosen for the role. It made sense that someone who’d been captain of a Scott Robertson-coached side should continue that in the test arena.
Barrett absolutely fits the mould of a traditional All Black captain and there’s nothing wrong with that or with him.
How he performs in Super Rugby Pacific is neither here nor there and I don’t see why anyone would harbour concerns about his form this season. It’s all about how he goes in an All Blacks shirt.
Should his test form be underwhelming then, yes, we do have something to discuss and that really is the reason why I thought Savea should’ve been skipper.
Since McCaw, this hasn’t been a contestable position.
Sam Cane had to pretty much retire in order to earn a second act without the captain’s armband. Otherwise, if you’re named All Blacks captain, you play as of right for as long as you like.
Barrett wasn’t named for 2024; when he assumed the position, it was at least until the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
So, when your tenure is likely to stretch that far into the future, the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season really isn’t a priority.
I’m not here to predict Barrett will become an issue for the All Blacks. I’m not saying he’ll be a passenger by 2027.
But I do believe the primary job of an All Blacks captain is to deservedly be the first name put on the team sheet today and for every future day of your reign.
If you look at the players Robertson inherited, Savea was always the guy most likely to still warrant automatic selection in four years’ time.
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Two facts written in stone.
1 Scooter is Razor’s skipper.
2 Jordan is Razor’s #15.
Any conjecture on either is pointless.
Well said. Will Jordan has blown his critics out of the water. He has been sublime at fullback for the Crusaders. Last week he was everywhere against the Drua in Fiji.
Goes without saying really
This article reads as though it’s from someone without “anything meaningful to talk about.”
The one random interesting point that you always trying to look for when talking to someone behaving like this (you’re always trying to move on politely while using someone else as the focus of you’re observation), is the idea of which player is likely to have the required miles in his legs, Ardiea Savea, or Scott Barrett?
Personally I had always assumed it would be Scott Barrett, so I’d say to someone else in the group “there’s no way Ardie can continue playing as long as Scott with the amount of miles he puts on his legs, or the number of South Africans greatest locks he’s dumped on there arse hahahaha (you get the picture)!”, and Ardie is an extreme workhorse, but it was also the fact he’d been a key figure, for both the All Blacks and Hurricanes, for longer than Scott, but maybe it was Barrett that because the starter first?
While I’d be on the topic of whos been number one for longer, and played more minutes, I’d bring up that Barrett was the lock that had the more dynamic performances around the park, and I’d actually think those would be far easier for him to pull of when playing as a blindside flanker, as he.. you know.. well lets just say I can remember a game were both were thought to be ‘must’ starters in the side..
Interesting article. I have no doubt Scott Barrett is playing well , but I believe we will see him rise in prominence in the second half of the Super Comp for the Crusaders. Hamish so on the money about Sam Whitelock. He had a fierce commitment to the Crusaders. He showed that in 2023 , playing the Final against the Chiefs after being under a injury cloud in the lead up. He played as well for the Crusaders as he did for the All Blacks.He remained the spiritual leader even after Scott assumed the role.
How can you be interested in this article GP.
In 2023, both Savea and Barrett performed at a world class level in their respective position. However, neither Barrett nor Savea played to the same high level in 2024 as they did the previous season.
So it’s bizarre that Hamish champions Savea as the new captain after Savea is coming off a pretty underwhelming 2024. Just as Barrett will never go down in All Black lore as the same calibre of lock as Whitelock or Retallick, Savea is never going to be put on the same pedestal as McCaw, Kaino, or Read.