Time nearing for All Blacks star to make decision on Super Rugby future
When Jordie Barrett signed his latest contract with New Zealand Rugby almost a year ago to the day, a clause was included that allowed the 17-cap All Black to switch Super Rugby clubs after one year with the Hurricanes. That year is slowly coming to a close and Barrett will soon need to decide where his future lies.
While the Hurricanes have nurtured the 23-year-old since he first signed with the franchise in 2017, it was with Canterbury where the talented utility back announced himself to the New Zealand public through some impressive displays during the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup campaign.
Barrett was studying at Lincoln University, following in the footsteps of older brother Scott, and Canterbury coach Scott Robertson wisely included the youngest Barrett brother in his provincial side for the 2016 season. Barrett went on to play a starring role in Canterbury title-winning run and was named Mitre 10 Cup player of the year.
While the Crusaders were naturally intent on keeping Barrett in the region, he made the decision to head north to the Hurricanes – the side he supported throughout his childhood – and link up with brother Beauden.
Beauden is now playing for the Blues (and will spend 2021) in Japan while Scott was named Crusaders captain ahead of the 2020 season and will remain with the Super Rugby champions until at least 2023.
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Jordie now has a massive decision to make – will he stay with the Hurricanes for the foreseeable future, or is change on the horizon?
Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee is confident that they can retain the youngest Barrett’s services for 2021 and beyond, despite the contract clause.
“We’ve said the whole way through that Jordie is really happy here, and he’s playing the best rugby of his life,” Lee told Stuff. He’s in regular dialogue with Alfie [coach Jason Holland]. We know these guys have choices but we’re confident that Jordie will be with us going forward.
“We realise there is interest from other clubs. I think all four clubs would be happy to have Jordie Barrett on their roster if they could. Definitely one club has made their interest known but we’re confident that Jordie is a Hurricane and loves the team, and we’re not too concerned [that Barrett will depart].”
Lee is right to suggest that any of the Super Rugby clubs would gain hugely from the addition of Barrett.
Matt Duffie, who will line up for the Blues at fullback for the second week in a row on Sunday afternoon, is heading to Honda Heat in Japan next season while the Auckland side also had Joe Marchant on their books for a period this year. They’ll be without Beauden for 2021 and first five option Harry Plummer is also off-contract at the end of the season. That creates plenty of space for Jordie to follow his brother to the Blues, should he choose to do so.
Further south, Brad Weber, Anton Lienert-Brown and Damian McKenzie are probably the only guaranteed selections in the Chiefs backline and Aaron Cruden is once again departing NZ shores. A Barrett-McKenzie combination in the backline could cause havoc for defending sides – though it’s difficult to say which positional combination would suit the two youngsters best.
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The Highlanders, meanwhile, are still in recovery mode after losing a host of experienced players following the 2019 Rugby World Cup. They’ve regularly chopped and changed their midfield and back three throughout the year whereas Barrett could add some stability at the back of the field.
The Crusaders are the most well-stocked in the backs of all the New Zealand teams with All Black options available to play in every position jersey from 9 to 15 – but they’d still savour the opportunity to add Barrett to their collection of talented players.
Without a doubt, all five New Zealand sides will be interested at the prospect of having Barrett on their roster next year and where the utility option ends up is anyone’s guess.
Depending on how successful the Hurricanes final three matches of Super Rugby Aotearoa are could have an impact on Barrett’s decision but the safe money would remain on him staying in the capital.
Then again, the safe money was also on Beauden re-signing with the Hurricanes – and we know how that turned out.
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, 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.
55 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 commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments