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Dave Rennie explains Noah Hotham omission and possible Carter switch
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There are genuine concerns over Beauden Barrett's All Black days
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In the end, Beauden Barrett got to be the hero for the Blues, slotting a regulation penalty from right in front to lift the side to a 36-33 Super Point victory over the Queensland Reds.
The All Black great has had many moments like that over his illustrious career, but now more than ever, the question seems pressing. Is it time? Can he hold onto his All Black jersey playing like this?
Because in Christchurch on Saturday night there were inexplicable moments of bad decision-making despite eventually having the final say. It is baffling that a man of his calibre with 144 Tests seems to have no game management nous.
With 10 minutes to go in the first half he fielded a kick in play destined to go into touch and decided to take the narrow outside lane like he still had the 2016 magic still in him. The result? Getting tackled direct into touch by Tim Ryan to hand the Reds prime attacking possession inside the Blues’ 22. There was no need to handle that ball, at all. The kick was not a 50-22 opportunity for the Reds. It was going into touch.
It was plays like this that kept the Reds breathing. The Blues were up 21-7 with nine minutes in the half remaining. Next thing you know the scores are level going into half-time and Barrett’s costly error gave the Reds the platform for one of those tries.
If that wasn’t enough, right at the death he cleared the lines from inside his 22, booting the ball into touch with 90 seconds remaining instead of winding down the clock. The kick didn’t even make it past where the ruck was. Surely, the right play was to starve the Reds off ball playing tight and close out the game 33-26.
That handover gave them one more shot, from which they scored and levelled the game again to go into Super Point extra time.
Do All Blacks just not take Super Rugby that seriously? Do we just discount all this because it’s not Test level?
Ruben Love also decided late in the game against the Brumbies with the cue in the rack that he would produce some highlight plays. Let’s try some trick shots now.
In a month’s time Barrett will be 35 years old. His running game is gone, he doesn’t have the line breaking speed anymore. He can still pilot an attack shape and put runners into holes and hit the cross-field kick. But what good is that if he can’t manage risk in a game?
The win over the Springboks at Eden Park last year was a great showing by Barrett in the No.10 jersey. Had a hand in crafting the All Blacks tries and didn’t blow up the team by doing anything crazy.
The loss to the Springboks the next week in Wellington was an awful one. He turned the ball over countless times inside his own half doing crazy things. Aside from the supersized risk-taking that night, inspection of the tape showed clear instances of missing the best option when going for it. Chip kicking for no one with overlaps begging, failing to pass on time with runners outside.
The Beauden Barrett from Eden Park is the one the All Blacks can use. The one from Wellington, that resurfaced again at Super Round for the Blues, is becoming un-selectable.
On form the two best 10s in New Zealand are Ruben Love, followed by Damian McKenzie. Richie Mo’unga returns to New Zealand later this year. Only three 10s will likely make the Rugby World Cup squad. At this stage the most likely to miss out is Barrett.
Barrett is on the verge of becoming the most capped All Black of all-time and the highest try scorer of all-time. He’s nine Tests away from Sam Whitelock’s 153 mark and three tries away from Doug Howlett’s 49.
He’ll go down as one of the all-time greats either way, but right now it’s it’s starting to feel like now more than ever the game’s gone and he won’t reach those milestones.
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