What to do with Beauden Barrett as Blues hit post-championship free fall

Have you not seen how good Caleb Woodley is at no. 7 for his second year in NZ U 20s and Blues U20s?

I think Cotters forwards dominated game in tight plus using Clarke & Lam bashing it up, deep territory kicking and how they rely on defence to smother doesn’t really suit BB.

Rennie wanting to get the ABs back to playing counter attacking rugby could be interesting as to where he can fit BB in.

Even Sullivan seems wasted at FB for the blues.

More a case of how do you get the Blues tight five to give their backs some front foot ball? Their tight five is woeful…..especially the front row….and they’re playing the Vern Cotter game….crash & bash it in close with a variation of the number 9 hoisting it high. When that fails they start giving back foot ball to the backs and expecting miracles.

Easy for what to do with BB, out to pasture, something NZ coaches seem reluctant to doubtless days.

Not likexin the past it. Buck

Harry Plummer should never have been allowed to leave. A quality no.10 who was improving every season … he was the future.

BB should've been out of the ABs years ago

So basically BB isn't a game managing 10. Which is exactly why the ABs have struggled since DC retired.

Send him to the glue factory

It’s interesting that many people forget who was the 10 last year when the All Blacks won important tests.

The question is not what WE do with Beauden Barrett. The question is what is he doing for himself?

What interests me most is seeing what Rennie is going to do with Beauden Barrett. And I’d like to know what Graham Henry thinks about it…he’s the one who brought an end to the international careers of Carlos Spencer and Andrew Mehrtens.

Really, really curious to see whether BB will still be in the squad in July since Richie Mo’unga isn’t eligible.

At his current level, it would be absurd, but you can see how incredibly difficult it is to make the definitive call… Beauden Barrett has a huge aura. He has brought a lot of money to New Zealand Rugby, indirectly through sponsorship deals. And then there are his brothers, who are hugely important figures within the All Blacks. That’s putting it mildly, considering Scott Barrett is the outgoing captain and Jordie Barrett could very well become the next captain.

I’m really very curious to see how Dave Rennie is going to handle this situation.

The championship window likely closed in 2025 and 2026 is just further evidence that they need to blow it up and rebuild.

It didn’t close in 25, they still had a champ team. Truth is the Chiefs didn’t get a good stick in that final either, when their whole loose forward trio outplayed the Blues opposites who couldn’t even make the ABs (well admittedly Akira would have if he wasn’t going to Japan, and Dalton was first choice that year, but Sititi and Jacobsen still played better), and then the Crusaders couldn’t clear the injury ward fast enough, just missing out on the finals.

So while Cotter had them playing a good style, there probably weren’t a champ team that year either. But they were obviously good enough, as they were in 25’, but for some reason they went completely away from the plan. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

It had been coming for a number of years and they finally made the breakthrough.

Indeed. This is the team Tana laid the foundations for, it took them till their peak but they did it in style, deserved rewards for those previous 6 or 7 seasons from hell. It is just a normal cycle, and while they might have got lucky with Torian Barnes acquisition, they have done well to recruit a better group for the next cycle. It is players like Beehre, Christie, Segner, Talea, that they need to hang onto.

Even though what I said above, it goes to show you how wrong we all were about needing a good first five. Admittedly Perofeta and Plummer had worked hard to improve their game and where a good step up from their previous selves. Beauden, should he choose to see out his contract, obviously still has what it takes to leader a champ team, it’s just that the impact would need to come from others. While Lam and Taele ahve been the best combo this season, Ahki and Taele are more than capable as well, the back row looks promising, and the tight 5 solid if Ofa can go one more. I do agree it might be a waiting game with the idea being to sign Fehi and Tangitau when their contracts are up, but I wouldn’t do any drastic resets. I’m not sure Holland is the guy, but Cotter found a way to use the team, I’m sure its possible with Beauden as well. He has always been his own best chaser of his kicks for instance, that could mean he’s your fullback, or just that you have to redefine how a 10 players, Barrett style.

The risk paid off in Ruben Love while Morgan decided to move overseas.

Morgan was as much of a dud as Simpson. Love was a local.

Not that you’d be happy for Simpson to take any overseas offer early, he’s got enough fundamentals to be turn in into the Millar they have coming to the Blues next season. They can get a couple of years out of Millar and Simpson should be as useful by then, with a chance to try and produce more control on a game.

You can certainly sign WTG to the main squad. There was some locking of talent that you can do but not for say a second year running, can’t quite remember how it works. I probably wouldn’t be looking for a 7, and I know the boys have done well at 6 this year, but I’d have my eye on Christie winning back that spot, or you could look to bring Akira back, or even a big guy from the Saders like Gardiner would be a better bench option than Lee imo. Segner, Barnes and malachi are all fairly similar (but I’d be happy with their uniqueness as a trio).

None of this is new. Barrett was decent for the Blues in 2022, but still couldn’t take them all the way. Since then, it’s been an inexorable free fall; it’s no coincidence the Blues sole title was when Barrett was on leave.

The Blues haven’t really forward planned for the end of the BB era. They have held onto him at the expense of any other players, now Plummer, Perofeta are leaving, they won’t have anyone left. Maybe Zarn Sullivan or Payton Spencer could be the answer. But they really need to bench BB, he is just not cutting it.

Jason Holland is a man manager and will have already started looking at the Blues player exodus and probable player recruits to fill the gaps prior to taking over from Vern..

IMO, I feel his time is up and it would be good to see Beauden step up into coaching with Jason, similar to Cory Jane for the ‘Canes with AB’s XV, 3 from 3 exposure and currently doing really well in getting the job done…

Booking my flight to Wellington for the June 20, 2026 SRPacific final…

Absolutely agree, the Blues have plenty of talent coming through the ranks, just not in the positions mentioned, the halves specifically, which kinda makes the rest pointless. Not saying he's the answer, but couldn't figure out why they let Cashmore go, very similar to Plummer, that backline just needs a competent facilitator. Some better depth at hooker would be nice too, I don't count any of the current options as none of them can be relied on at line out time