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It would be fair to say that All Blacks head coach Ian Foster raised a lot of eyebrows when he named his first team of the year on Friday.
Although the majority of the starting XV to face the Wallabies in Wellington this weekend chose themselves, the retention of Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett as partners on the field of play is something few would have anticipated.
Most expected the pair to fight for the number 10 jersey given that Mo’unga flourished there for the Crusaders at Super Rugby Aotearoa and Barrett publicly admitted that it is his preferred role while with the Blues.
Jordie Barrett changes wings for the first test of the All Blacks
Add to that the botched World Cup campaign, in which the use of Mo’unga in the top five and Barrett as a fullback came under heavy criticism, as well as comments from Foster in the wake of the team’s announcement last month. that the duo were in direct competition for No. 10 spot.
All of that was complicated to give the perception that the dual axis of game creation was a game plan that had been neglected.
Think again.
Barrett has found himself back in the number 15 jersey to work in tandem with teammate Mo’unga, who has earned the nod at No. 10, for the opening match of the 2020 Bledisloe Cup.
Despite his team’s unsuccessful quest for a World Cup hat-trick in Japan last year, Foster insists nothing has changed his line of thinking about putting two of his best players in the park simultaneously.
“I wanted to give you some headlines for a few weeks, but no, nothing has changed, ”he told the media in Wellington on Friday about his suggestion that Barrett and Mo’unga were competing for the same spot on the team.
“They both want to be 10. Beaudy still wants to play 10, but we also know how influential he can be at 15.”
Barrett’s influence is undeniable, as evidenced by his two World Rugby Player of the Year awards and his 83 caps for New Zealand.
His trophy cabinet, which boasts a World Cup, Super Rugby title, and multiple Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup crowns, is a testament to that too.
The All Blacks team has been named to play Australia in the opening round of the Bledisloe Cup on Sunday. Https://t.co/oDyY8UwD9d
– RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 8, 2020
There was also an obvious correlation between the Blues’ resurgence in Super Rugby with Barrett’s relocation to Auckland this season, but it is that arrival at Eden Park that allowed his younger brother Jordie to shine in the Hurricanes.
With the Wellington franchise stripped of the magic touches, electric racing ability and game-breaking x-factor that Beauden brings everywhere he plays for, a heavy weight of responsibility was subsequently placed on Jordie’s shoulders.
However, when tasked with guiding his bottom line through the park without the help of his older brother, he brought out the best in the 23-year-old as he was forced to stamp his authority over the matches in which he played. otherwise it would have been a passenger.
In doing so, he shed his reputation as a stones and diamonds type player, one who was as prone to making a costly mistake or poor decision as he was capable of doing something extraordinary.
Instead, Jordie played a starring role from his preferred fullback position for the Hurricanes, often becoming a central, controlled, and collected figure at crucial moments in earning their wing victories that they might not have achieved without him.
However, it is on the wing that Barrett finds himself with 17 tests as his brother regains the number 15 jersey, almost a year after the All Blacks last played in the bronze World Cup final against Wales.
Foster suggested that the abnormally wide gap between games could have played a role in maintaining the status quo in terms of selection.
“When a team goes to the first test, it is always trying to find its feet. We will be the same trying to find the structure of our feet and have both [Mo’unga and Beauden] it’s really important. “
Still, that does not mean that Jordie, a player many consider to be one of the best, if not the best performing, in Super Rugby Aotearoa, has been cast out of the position in which he had apparently found a home to he.
Perhaps a victim of his vast versatility, the young Barrett has played in every position on the baseline since he burst onto the scene with the New Zealand U-20 team in 2016.
That persistent change in positions may have been a factor in the regular inconsistencies early in his career, but those vulnerabilities went out the window as he enjoyed a sustained career as a senior baseline leader from the wing in the Hurricanes.
“It was clearly an area, in the past, where maybe he made some mistakes,” Foster said of Jordie’s development as a decision maker.
“He’s been a kid on the big stage, and because of his talent, he’s played at a higher level very young and played some great test matches very young, but how impressive has this year been?
“Probably becoming one of the key leaders on that Hurricanes team and taking control of a lot of situations, so that watching and helping others has really helped his game.”
It’s for that reason that Barrett has been awarded a starting job in a position he’s not very familiar with, but which will keep him on the field and suit two of the team’s most indispensable players in Beauden and Mo ‘ anoint. .
In doing so, that seems to adhere to Foster’s tactical approach of keeping all of his best players in the park, even if it means diverting them from their best positions.
“What happens is that we still want to keep it in that space. I don’t want him to get into his shell and I want him to be influential in our park. The more times I can participate, the better for us, ”said Foster.
That’s not to say he won’t appear to the All Blacks as a fullback, a position not unlike his new wing role, in the coming weeks.
How Jordie adjusts to what is required of him as a winger in the national setup, which sounds different than what was asked of him in the Hurricanes, will be the determining factor in that change in position.
“Can he? Yes, he can. Is it his strength? No, it isn’t. But is he working on it? Yes,” Foster said when asked if young Barrett is capable of sliding down to occupy one of the game-making roles as part of New Zealand’s 10-15 axis.
“So the answer is, that’s a requirement of our game, so he’s working hard in that space, but I’m not worried about putting him in the 15 jersey.
“I think I said he’s been in 15 form, there’s no question about that. He has impressed us a lot and that’s why he’s in the field.
“We will look at ways to incorporate that into our game, but, in terms of moving forward, that’s their job as is. [for] the likes of Damian [McKenzie]. “
And what does the man think of being at the center of the great selection shock that leads to the first test of the year?
“Any chance, like I said, to start with the All Blacks is huge, and I’m not going to fight for that with my brother,” Jordie said.
“He has the jersey on and I’m just looking at the things I can do on the wing to help the team get the victory at the weekend.
“Look, [there’s] many of the same principles as the side in the band, and on Sunday I will try to be strong in the band ”.
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