Beauden Barrett is a wonderful rugby player, in my opinion the world’s leading No.10.
But coming into this British and Irish Lions tour, his one obvious potential weakness was his goal kicking. And thus, it has come to pass that his kicking has been crucial in the outcome – not just of one match, but the entire series.
Barrett missed kicks at goal that a Test-level goal kicker should get, and with the second and third Tests coming down to such tiny margins, the fact remains that Barrett blew it for New Zealand through his unreliable goal kicking.
Despite his excellent play during general play, his form from the tee was just not good enough and ended up in the first drawn series ever between the All Blacks and the British and Irish Lions.
As unpalatable as it may be, New Zealand Rugby and its supporters would do well to consider this undeniable fact in their analysis of their drawn series with the Lions.
While the All Blacks have tended to dominate recently to a point where they have not needed goalkicking to beat teams such as the Wallabies and South Africa, in close matches they need to ensure all necessary points are taken. Unfortunately for them at the moment, Beau just isn’t doing the trick.
New Zealand needs to find a consistent goal kicker to fill the shoes of Dan Carter, who won a number of close matches for the All Blacks during his fine career. While Carters don’t come around all the time, there has to be someone in the All Black setup that can kick more reliably.
Fortunately, they have plenty of depth in the fly half department. What do you think, Roarers? Who should come in to replace Beauden Barrett for the All Blacks?
Vic rugby
Guest
The one bright patch in australian rugby this year, dumping on the all blacks for not winning the lions tour. They didnt lose it like us so humiliatingly to be clear nz drew the series. So here we are taking cheap shots at them to feel better. Enjoy it while it lasts and just remember it when kiwis are on here in the coming months.
adastra32
Guest
Not sure that your last para will be so. England have an excellent defence coach Paul Gustard (ex-Saracens like Andy Farrell) who I am sure will be working with the team's Lions/Saracens spine (Kruis, Itoje, George, Farrell, the Vunipolae) to create some more high pressure headaches for the ABs when they next meet.
Henry honey balls
Guest
Harsh to blame it on SBW when discipline has been a general issue with the ABs for a while now. In their last 10 games they have received 6 cards. 5 yellow and 1 red. NZ have also tended to get cards in closer games where frustration builds. All games that they won easily, Samoa, Italy and Italy they didn't get carded however, in tighter games v the Lions, and Ireland the cards came out. The penalty count is also quite high.
piru
Roar Rookie
Beauden is a great player and he was one of the All Blacks' best players this series. We knew his abilities and chose him in spite of the fact his kicking is not the greatest ever - it's very rough to now criticise him for not being Daniel Carter. I mean, almost no one is, are they?
taylorman
Roar Guru
yes you've gotta go with the highs and lows as a player, with Barrett he was actually 20 from 23 going into this tests, the only issue being the kicks in front. Can we confidently say anyone in the world would have bettered 20-23?. Of course not. Even this test he knocked over the sideline conversion of Laumapes try. And how many tests has he won for the ABs either off the bench or at start? Gotta go with the flow, and we know goalkicking isn't his strength, and now we pin a loss on him? SBW has more to answer for. Not ever a regular starter he gets his chance and fluffs it badly. But even there it's not about individuals. The ABs pride themselves on a team approach and collectively they should have fronted better than that, especially in test three.
Galatzo
Guest
Close, Frank. But I feel that SBW is the main reason the ABs lost the series.
mtiger
Guest
Nah, it is just a fact that cumulative caps (including with those mentioned) would not be close to 2011-2015 Allblacks. Unfortunately, for the highs provided by the Super flyhalf (not goalkicker) who also doubles up as the 3rd winger, challenge the Allblacks when playing with a normal flyhalf, albeit with a higher kicking percentage. Have faith in Barrett, it is the job of the other 14 too, to make it work.
MH01
Guest
When did the English team play NZ? Are you referring to the lions?
Buckman
Guest
Hear, hear. Beauden kicks them and maybe the lions win with a more expansive game forced on them. Ludicrous assertion.
Beezlebub
Guest
Two abysmal French referees in a row, ruined both games..... Consistency is all we should expect, nothing more nor less!!
Beezlebub
Guest
You avoided the referee topic here mate, the Elephant in the room????
Londoner
Guest
Agree Jordie should have been the kicker. Beauden is an amazing player but he's not a world class kicker...misses too many at this level. As a Lions Fan though, Im grateful for this.......
Mielie
Guest
"The All blacks are finally showing cracks." Wishful thinking perhaps. Imo, the British and Irish Lions are forminable. You cannot play against them with 14 men, and win. Some kicking practise is required, yes. But cracks, no. Which poor Rugby team is going to play the All Blacks next? The trophy remains in the All Black showcase. The Poms, though very impressive and formidable, did not beat the All Blacks in the series.
Frank O'Keeffe
Guest
SBW is the second largest reason NZ didn't win that series.
Black&White
Guest
Some very good points CP but there's no escaping the fact that at the top level you must have a reliable goal kicker and BB has shown himself to be anything but both at Super Rugby level and test level. In every other respect he has few peers, but poor goal kicking will always be the difference between winning or losing a tight game. Had BB nailed his kicks in both the second & third tests against the Lions the ABs would have won, end of story, Until the AB selectors find a reliable goal kicker this will continue to be their achillies heel. .
Kiwi in US
Guest
BB is awesome. Yes he missed some kicks, but boy were we short some folks in the back line, a lot of errors. We should of pulled clear in first half. All credit to the lions though, they really came together well, and they have some awesome kickers. Bring on end of SR, RC and EYT. im a little hollow and empty still though.
Timmy Smith
Guest
Don't know why we are even talking about goal kicking. As kiwis we love the fact the ABs play a high tempo game, very flat to the line and try to score tries. That's what rugby should be about not a goal kicking contest. Took some pretty big balls to kick to the corner in the second half and have a crack. Surely no one wants to go back in time and watch endless games of 12 - 9 etc. ABs deserve a lot of praise almost pulling off what would have been a remarkable victory last week with 14 men and last night like the Lions in previous weeks will rue a lot of missed chances. Wouldn't you rather watch them have a go, test matches are all about winning no question, but I know what I'd rather watch sides scoring tries. One last point surely the best games derserve the number one ref in the world being in charge.......
Corporal Punishment
Guest
I agree MZ, the SR results are quite misleading it seems. Re sensible and balanced, I am certainly sore about the ref changing his decision on the offside penalty. However, even if we'd got the penalty and kicked the goal, and held out for the remaining minute or so to win, I still would have been unhappy with the result. The Lions suffocated the AB's and we seemed unable to counter it. A victory would have felt hollow.
Stu B
Guest
Forget the kicking and we saw some terrific running rugby and brilliant defence from both teams, the lions actually ran the ball,fantastic,my lasting memory will be of a ref in frozen motion for the final 2 minutes of a mighty 3 test battle.The poor bugger after an excellent 78 minutes panicked,too much pressure and his livelihood relies on northern hemisphere rugby just couldn't be responsible,flaked on the mammoth decision,conned by a Welshman,even unaware when the match had finished.Come 2019 would expect a higher standard than we witnessed with this incident.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
The All Blacks didn't score enough tries. They had a wealth of territory and possession in the first half and spent a huge amount of time in the opposition 22 during the game but couldn't score. The opening quarter of the second half was poor from the All Blacks and Kaino's card set them on the backfoot. They needed to score first in the second half to close the game out but instead, they allowed the Lions to get back in the hunt. It all went pear-shaped after the first test and the All Blacks ended up looking ill-prepared and short on answers. The Lions looked better than the All Blacks with the ball in hand for most of the third test. Who would have thought the All Blacks to be better at the set piece and the Lions to be better in the backs? Bizzare. No wonder the series was drawn. The rugby world got knocked off kilter