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Beauden Barrett is the flavour of the month. He was the helmsman of a Hurricanes ship which sailed with serenity through the choppy waters of the Super Rugby playoffs, expertly avoiding all the hidden reefs and clashing rocks which might have upset their progress to the title.
The Hurricanes won their three knockout matches in 2016 by an average score of 29-4 without conceding a single try. They were never seriously challenged.
So does this mean Barrett should be an automatic choice for the All Blacks in the forthcoming Rugby Championship?
The New Zealand coaching group, headed up by Steve Hansen, will take a far more sober view of the situation than recent media coverage would suggest. It will be a tight call between Barrett and the incumbent 10, Aaron Cruden, for the starting role.
Why should this be the case? Let’s rewind, all the way back to the last time Barrett started for the All Blacks, against Wales on the end of year tour in November 2014.
Upfield rush – focus on second receiver
The first hour of the match was the stuff of nightmares for Barrett against Wales’ oppressive rush defence. During that period, Wales forced:
• Four kicking mistakes (including two blocked down kicks)
• Three handling mistakes
• Two fumbles
These came directly off Barrett, plus a further three ‘indirect’ turnovers and four slow-downs derived from his tendency to turn his shoulders towards the receiver and lead the defence into the target with punitive force.
So let’s examine the problems Barrett experienced in more detail. Those problems fell into three categories:
1. Kicking game
2. Timings on the pass
3. Alignment on the pass
In the kicking game, Wales cut down Barrett’s time and space, and blocked down two of his attacking chips, first via Alun Wyn Jones at 9:58, then by Dan Biggar at 52:42.
This, in turn, created a mental pressure which resulted in a tactical punt going straight out at 13:20 and the cross-kick to Charles Piutau under-weighted at 18:02, with Piutau unable even to get a jump on the ball against George North.
The All Blacks’ attempts to bring runners off Barrett’s outside shoulder were just as unsuccessful, with Biggar reading the ‘trail pass’ to Julian Savea easily at 32:44. Biggar and Jamie Roberts clattered Sonny Bill Williams right at the end of the first half when Barrett shifted the ball on automatically.
That final example hints at the most damaging of all Barrett’s tendencies – his habit of pivoting on his inside foot and make a 180-degree turn towards the second receiver, without every taking a step towards the defence.
The first instance of this habit occurred right at the beginning of the match:
The All Blacks have just made a clean break down the left touchline so they are moving forward with some momentum – but Barrett’s action in the first two frames does more to check that momentum rather than develop it.
At 1:46, he is facing towards Aaron Smith to receive the pass one step across halfway, at 1:47 his shoulders have pivoted fully through 180 degrees only one stride further on.
Any sense of Barrett engaging the defence in front of him (and there are two Welsh props standing in that area) has been lost, and at 1:48 the Wales #5 Jones is already moving up threateningly on the blind-side of the receiver, Brodie Retallick. Jones duly makes the tackle, allowing both Dan Lydiate and Roberts to go in over the ball and overload the All Blacks cleanout. The outcome is a penalty to Wales.
The effect of this tendency in a longer attacking sequence can be seen in the reel, in the three phases from 29:08-29:25. In all three phases, Barrett does exactly the same thing, pivoting on the pass without engaging the defender(s) in front of him.
This results in a significant slow-down in delivery from the first ruck set by Sonny Bill, and when play comes back in from the far sideline at 29:22, the consequences are terminal. Both Retallick and Wyatt Crockett are already covered by the hard-pressing Welsh D in midfield and a mistake is virtually inevitable.
Once again, when he received the ball, Barrett had the two Wales props in front of him and could have hit the line at speed on a line between them.
In the larger frame of events, Wales were ahead 13-10 after 60 minutes, and by 16-15 in the 69th minute – so what enabled New Zealand to run away with the match with three tries in the last 11 minutes for a comfortable 34-15 win?
The answer is simple: Colin Slade came off the bench to play 10, with Barrett shifting to fullback.
The effects of Slade’s presence in attack were immediate and concrete. At 62:51 he provided the impetus for a break down the right by Dane Coles with a beautiful miss-pass off his left hand – note how he takes a couple of steps towards the defensive line before releasing the ball – while at 75:12 he made a searching punt off his left boot, which forced an error off Leigh Halfpenny and led to the next (scoring) scrum for the All Blacks. That score was also engineered by a perfect cross-kick from Slade, this time using his other foot!
Both Slade’s presence, and the move further out suited Barrett down to the ground. Suddenly he flowered into the great broken-field runner we know he can be, chipping ahead and collecting the ball for a try in the 70th minute, and re-gathering Ben Smith’s tap-down for another right at the death – having put in a much more relaxed-looking cross-kick for the go-ahead New Zealand score in the 64th minute!
So the picture that emerged from that match was mixed. On the one hand, of a player who struggled to get the technical detail right in more formal, claustrophobic situations, but who blossomed given the space and time to play on instinct; of a player who adapted more naturally to ‘chaotic’ opportunities rather than the requirements of ‘structured’ overall strategy; of someone who needed a second fiddle alongside him to provide that strategic ability.
Barrett looked to be what he was: a high-class 15 trying his hand at 10.
Since November 2014, Barrett has been busily re-inventing himself as the flyhalf the All Blacks need, especially after the retirement of the great Dan Carter. He has stuck at the position and tried to add that effectiveness in the structured situations Steve Hansen and Co. want to see.
How successful has he been?
Upfield rush – focus on second receiver
• Kicking game: despite one blocked-down kick in the final against the Lions, this is an area of definite improvement. Barrett’s accuracy on the short attacking chips (at 6:20) and cross-kicks is excellent:
But it is a new confidence in the strategic component of his kicking game which is most impressive. The two high kicks against the Chiefs at the end of the reel (at 43:58 and 52:22) are both of the right height and depth to encourage repossession and generate an increase in attacking impetus.
Barrett’s control of the game via the use of midfield diagonal punts against both the Sharks and Lions was strategic and assured:
In the first instance he ‘sees’ the situation developing in front of him and drops deep into the pocket for the kick, in the second he takes a few steps forward to commit the front-line defenders and create more space for the diagonal in behind.
• Timed passes and alignment: the changes in the delivery of the pass from first receiver are not quite as clear and consistent. There were a couple of examples of the receiver outside Barrett over-running his static positioning:
The evidence of the semi-final against the Chiefs suggests that he is trying to take a couple of steps forward towards the defence before releasing the ball to the receiver outside him. That makes a positive difference to the tip-on pass (by Brad Shields) and the carry by Michael Fatialofa outside him at 1:12. However, old habits resurface on the following two phases, at 1:17 and 1:26, with the initiative shifting to the defence.
Later in the same sequence, Barrett runs five steps through the ball at first receiver (2:01 – positive momentum) but is out of the pattern next phase and running a fullback or blind-side winger’s line off Tom Marshall at 2:14 (negative momentum).
The overall impression is that Barrett is steadily increasing the number of occasions on which he commits the D by moving forward before shifting the ball on:
Progress is no more than that – steady.
Summary
The choice between Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett will be tight for the first match of the Rugby Championship, against the Wallabies. If Barrett is chosen, his success (or otherwise) against the rush-based defences of Australia and South Africa will be fascinating to observe. Sydney will be his first major Test since the Wales game.
If Barrett is preferred, it will ensure the selection of Israel Dagg at 15 to provide an alternate first receiver (along with Ben Smith at 14), which will leave Waisake Naholo and Julian Savea battling it out for the left wing position.
I cannot help but think that the availability of Charlie Ngatai would have helped All Black midfield selection along enormously during the June series against Wales. With Ngatai’s kicking game and ability to play first receiver, Barrett would be able to relax. With Ryan Crotty in place, he will have to shoulder much more of the responsibility himself.