Brodie Retallick (left) and Scott Barrett. Photo / Getty Images
Brodie Retallick (left) and Scott Barrett. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION
It is now to be hoped, with Scott Barrett’s remarkable test performance against the Wallabies, that all thoughts of using him at blindside flanker have been shelved.
Barrett turned in a game that, no exaggeration, lifted the bar for All Blacks locks; a complete display that should leave noone in doubt about the identity of their number one lock.
It’s difficult to remember such a telling, athletic, all-round game by anyone in a 4 or 5 black jersey. Maybe Brodie Retallick (who also played well against Australia) in his 2015 heyday when the All Blacks blasted past France in that 62-13 World Cup quarter-final, or his outrageous dummy for a Bledisloe Cup try in 2018 against the Wallabies. Or maybe the great Colin Meads and his athletic heights in a very different game from that played these days.
It’s doubtful any All Blacks lock has had the all-round influence on a test Barrett did. There was that tackle that smeared Wallabies halfback Tate McDermott all over the goal line, setting up a gift try for Shannon Frizell. There was an astonishing number of carries throughout the match, time and again getting up to make his way quickly back into position to receive the ball. He was involved multiple times for Will Jordan’s try in the first half, making at least three carries in quick succession. He was a key part of an almost-flawless All Blacks lineout and his work at the breakdown was applied with cold efficiency.
But it was his athleticism and ability to go full-throttle for 80 work-filled minutes that most caught the eye. He set up the All Blacks’ first try and the last too - with a clattering run out of defence that saw him pick up a bootlaces pass from Jordan, scoot past Wallabies lock Nick Frost as if he was a totem pole and, when the defence caught him, swung a long one-handed pass to Caleb Clarke that disembowelled the Wallabies, leading to Rieko Ioane’s try.
Scott Barrett (middle) of the All Blacks celebrates a try during The Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup match in Melbourne. Photo / Getty Images
And, in the 74th minute, when most locks would be leaning on the rucks, happy with a 38-7 victory, who was rumbling up in support of Richie Mo’unga as the first five scored a (disallowed) try with a piece of individual cleverness? Barrett was galloping along, the only All Black in sight, as if he was a recent replacement, not someone whose work rate would put most of us in the emergency ward.
New Zealand fans have talked about the remarkable engines of Retallick, Richie McCaw, Kieran Read - Barrett’s is the equal of any. When he’s finished ruining Twitter, maybe Elon Musk should investigate the energy source that powers Barrett.
All that said, the temptation now will be to push Barrett to No 6 to accommodate the great Sam Whitelock. Please, no. Barrett has earned his premier position in the second row; his athleticism should be used there, not in an attempt to plug a gap (even if Frizell is injured) by playing someone out of position - a common All Blacks blooper in previous years which needs no repetition now.
Barrett’s had four starts as a No 6, with only one satisfying performance (the sole win against Ireland in 2021). If more is needed as a reason not to do it, look up the video of Brayden Iose’s try for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby’s 15th round as the Canes beat the Crusaders. Barrett was at No 6 that day when Iose launched himself off the back of an attacking scrum, skinned Barrett for pace, fending off another defender to score. It was a stark illustration of the acceleration and anticipation required by a test match loose forward.
No, Barrett should stay in his happy place. Speaking of which, how happy must Ian Foster be to be making New Zealand Rugby squirm with the All Blacks’ form - even if their scalps belt has no Northern Hemisphere hairpieces hanging from it? Foster’s resurgence has coincided with the promotion of Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt, but there can be no denying they all have this All Blacks crew humming right now. The need for Scott Robertson to take over now seems a little, well, previous.
Quade Cooper lines up a tackle on Anton Lienert-Brown. Photo / Getty Images
It could be worse; he could be Eddie Jones. It’s fashionable these days to say that rugby needs extroverts like Jones but, to me, he just appears to be a poor man’s version of Brian Clough, the voluble English First Division- and European Cup-winning football coach, whose ego required a wheelbarrow.
“I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business, but I’m in the top one,” was a famous Cloughie quote. Jones, meanwhile, could enter the World Cup after five straight test losses (the Wallabies play the All Blacks again and then France before the World Cup).
The Aussies can talk all they like about rebuilding, lack of depth and long-term approaches but Dave Rennie had the Wallabies closer to beating the All Blacks last year in that farcical “time-wasting” test - and winning by consistently losing, as far as I can tell, has never been a thing in any professional sport.
