Smiley’s boy shows he is genuine rugby royalty
The Hurricanes No 10 is the new face of New Zealand rugby after another classy display.
Scandals during the week, a big freeze for the final, Super Rugby was hanging out for something exceptional.
Let’s call that something Beaudy. As in Beauden Barrett.
They say nobody’s a hero in their own hometown, but spending a week in New Plymouth recently I found there are exceptions to the rule.
The Barretts are rugby royalty in the Naki, and Beauden follows in the impressively large footsteps of his father Kevin, a lock whose sharp edged approach on the field mocked his nickname of Smiley.
At home there’s nothing but admiration for Smiley’s boy Beauden, and why not? Down to earth, fresh faced, you could call him the boy next door if the boy next door had the pick-up of an Olympic sprinter, the reflexes of a fighter pilot, the vision of a rugby Yoda, and could fire off low level penalty kicks like a sniper.
In the run to the final it’s become almost mandatory for Barrett to play a blinder, and last night he didn’t let anyone down in an epic, if potentially hypothermic, game. It felt almost preordained that he’d score the try that sealed the title.
If Barrett is the face of the Canes’ future, then Cory Jane and Victor Vito were reminders of the team’s often exciting, if sometimes erratic, history.
Jane’s genuine eccentricity (it’s apparently true that he was the only child at his primary school from an English speaking home who was sent to a class to help immigrants learn the language) can sometimes divert attention from the fact he’s technically impeccable on the field, and virtually flawless under a high ball.
He perfectly demonstrated his handling skills twice in the first half. He made the catch of a Barrett crossfield kick look as simple as training on a dry day, only to be denied the try because of an earlier fumble in the forwards.
But when Lionel Mapoe tried to boot the ball clear under pressure 15 minutes later Jane grabbed it with an ease that a crack cricketing slip fieldsman would be proud of. He made what was actually a very difficult try look easy.
Vito has had a long and good career. He’s played 33 test matches, and this was his 100th game for the Canes, but there’s always been a niggling feeling he might have been even better.
In blunt terms he could have done with some of the attitude of his late team-mate Jerry Collins, who used to say he saw his role as being similar to "an assassin" when he tackled.
This year Vito often found his inner assassin, and that ruthless streak was needed last night against tough, stinging runs by powerful Lions forwards like their captain, Warren Whiteley.
In fact Whiteley and his Lions, showed why, alone amongst the South African Super Rugby sides, they deserved to be alive at the sharp end of the season.
Add unfamiliar weather conditions to not only the after effects of a flight from Johannesburg but also a rampant Canes team, and they could have been forgiven for folding.
Instead they offered, as well as the traditional South African steel in the forwards, a halfback in Faf De Klerk whose clashes with another firecracker, Aaron Smith, when the All Blacks take on the Springboks will be a wonderful match within a match.
Bravo to the Canes for being worthy champions, and proving that jerseys don’t have DNA. There have been some jittery Canes’ team in years past. This year’s model had self belief to the end.
Footnote: The wisest comment by a rugby person about the Chiefs’ debacle came from Steve Hansen. It’s time, he said, to kick Mad Mondays to touch. Any professional team with a shred of institutional intelligence will now do just that.