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Tony Johnson weighs in on Jordie Barrett's position in 2026
By Henry Lee
During the 2025 International season, the All Blacks used six different midfield combinations, some of which included Jordie Barrett, who had just come back from a short-term playing sabbatical at Irish club Leinster.
Barrett, who is often one of the All Black vice-captains alongside Ardie Savea, was forced to fly back home to New Zealand after the Ireland Test in Chicago, after a nasty injury ruled him out of the final three games on the end-of-year tour.
The 78-Test experienced midfielder transitioned to second-five earlier on in his career at the Hurricanes, after bursting onto the scene as a fullback.
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Barrett will return to play for the Hurricanes in 2026 under Scottish-born head coach Clark Laidlaw, who has recently appointed ex-All Blacks assistant and former Hurricanes head coach Jason Holland as the team’s new assistant.
With Barrett’s return, the Wellington-based Super Rugby Pacific franchise have also added Japan International Warner Dearns to their second-row department, someone who has made 32 Test caps for Eddie Jones’ side.
Long-time Sky Sport commentator and rugby pundit Tony Johnson believes that a move back to fullback for Barrett could be on the cards with the emergence as Quinn Tupaea and Leicester Fainga’anuku as options in the midfield.
“To me, it opens up the possibility of Jordie Barrett going back to fullback, because I think there potentially is one of the answers to this ongoing issue about the high-ball problems,” Johnson said on the DSPN Podcast with Martin Devlin.
“So to me, perhaps there’s a solution there. Do you maybe look to continue with that combination of Tupaea and Fainga’anuku because they’re very strong, very direct, and try and build better connections on defence.
“I think was one of the issues that they had, not just down to decision making in the moment where you ended up with two guys on one, that sort of thing.
“Wasn’t just those two, by the way. I’m not pointing the bone at them entirely. It was a collective thing. So yeah I guess that’s the wishlist, and I tell you what, a year when absolutely no one gets injured would be great.”
Johnson also explains that because of the frequent changing combinations in midfield for the All Blacks, they need to settle on a group to be able to get the best out of them.
“There’s been six different midfield combinations this year now, part of that was because was because of injury, because the one they used the most was Jordie Barrett and Billy proctor.
“But then Barrett got injured, the Quinn Tupaea came on. Well, I thought Leicester Fainga’anuku showed really damaging capabilities there,” the Sky Sport commentator said.
“So you think, well, okay, let’s just get this guy in beast mode, and he can be one of the guys that gets you over the gain line. So there’s some questions to be resolved there.”
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