Barrett shows why he’s a man for all seasons
Consummate display in appalling conditions by class No 10 sends message to All Blacks selectors.
Two big questions were answered in the Super Rugby quarterfinal in Wellington last night.
Are the late-charging Hurricanes the real deal? Can Beauden Barrett handle conditions that could have snuffed out his natural attacking game?
Make those answers yes, and yes. In fact feel free to make that YES, and YES.
Being trapped in a washing machine set on a cold-water cycle would have been no more uncomfortable than playing in the swirling, biting, wind and rain at the stadium.
But against a Sharks side determined to steamroll a victory with their huge, mean forward pack, the Canes, and Barrett, adjusted brilliantly to the situation.
On the field over the past month Barrett’s been spelling out a message in skyscraper-sized neon letters to the All Blacks selectors that he deserves to leave the role of super sub, and become the starting 10 in the All Blacks.
Aaron Cruden’s rugby smarts are not in question. They’re the reason the All Blacks selectors have preferred him to begin test matches.
Cruden’s form hasn’t slumped, but last night Barrett proved beyond doubt that he’s not only a flat-track flier, but can also be shrewd, calculating and effective when more conservative methods are needed.
Reading the game? He varied his tactical kicking beautifully. A brilliant take of a Barrett crossfield bomb by Jason Woodward that led to TJ Perenara scoring the first try was the most spectacular. But throughout the match Barrett’s kicks turned, teased and tormented the Sharks.
Calm under pressure? From two tackles on rampaging forwards at the start of the second quarter to a nerveless tidying up of a wayward lineout throw, to some coolly calculated goal kicking, Barrett really was a man for all seasons, even when that season involved a bitter Wellington winter’s night.
For the Canes there’s the comfort of a home semi next week, a game they’ll enter safe in the knowledge that exactly when things need to mesh they’re purring like a factory-fresh RollsRoyce.
If the Highlanders kick on and win the Super Rugby title, it’d be a nice touch to invite television match official George Ayoub to their celebration party.
The Highlanders were the better team in Canberra by the length of George Street (a weird naming coincidence or the first block in a conspiracy theory?) but pelting rain allowed a clearly inferior team, the tedious, limited, onetrick pony that is the Brumbies, to stay close on the scoreboard while being outplayed all over the park.
So it took a call by Ayoub to make the game safe for the men from Dunedin.
In Canberra even the usually phlegmatic Stephen Larkham, so unemotional his nickname when he was playing was ‘‘Bernie’’ after the corpse in the movie Weekend At Bernie’s, fired up over Ayoub, saying he couldn’t see whether wing Lausii Taliauli had grounded the ball, so it was impossible to award a try.
After watching every replay four times, I think Ayoub was right. So why should the Highlanders be grateful just because an official made a correct decision?
Because with Georgie, as the referee Angus Gardner called him, what you see, and what he sees, can be very different.
Just last year Ayoub was stood down for a week by Sanzar game manager, Lyndon Bray, after a couple of bizarre calls in a game between the Waratahs and the Sharks. ‘‘Some basic standards were not upheld,’’ Bray said.
If you’ve followed Sanzar since it began in 1996 you’ll know that the decisions had to be really, truly, deeply, seriously, wrong headed crap to inspire such blunt comments.
This time Ayoub was on the side of the angels, and the Highlanders live, as they should, to play next weekend, either at home against the Chiefs, or in Cape Town against the Stormers (depending on what happened in the game in Cape Town this morning).
The Highlanders’ attacking game, depending as it does on highly skilled, daring, ball handling is best suited to the guaranteed conditions of their covered stadium.
If they are up against a desperate Chiefs’ team the game promises to be as classic as their round robin clash, which in every aspect put many test matches to shame.