No repeat of the Barrett plan as home pack fronts
Crusaders failed to rattle the No 10 as they did last year.
Plans. Sometimes in rugby they work.
In 2011 the All Blacks played Australia in a semi-final. They had two main targets.
One was the obvious weak link in the Wallabies, first-five Quade Cooper. That worked like a charm. Cooper’s coach, Robbie Deans, was able to paper over his defensive limitations by moving him to fullback when the All Blacks had the ball. But there was nothing Deans could do about the barrage of high balls fired at poor Cooper, who ended the game physically battered, and psychologically shattered.
The other was to hone in on Australia’s best player, flanker David Pocock, to exhaust him by running two hugely strong All Blacks, Jerome Kaino and Brad Thorn, straight at him. Poor Pocock was so ragged his ability to wrestle the ball at breakdowns was severely limited. The All Blacks won 20-6.
Last night we had a chance to see if the Crusaders, could do the same as they did on a cold, wet May night in Christchurch last year, cutting down time and space for the Hurricanes’ Beauden Barrett, who, a veteran Super coach once suggested to me, was so good that ‘‘When he’s on the field the game is never out of reach.’’
This was the Pocock option, but what the Canes brought to the party was something no plan in the world could accommodate.
After a scratchy win in Buenos Aires, and a lack lustre loss in Cape Town, the Canes hit the field in Wellington like a Rolls Royce crossed with a junkyard dog.
First they scrapped and won the vast majority of ball, and they, when they had it, they all ran with pace, confidence, and accuracy. In broken field play the V shaped defensive line of the Crusaders’ defence at set pieces couldn’t hold Barrett down, because he was getting great ball in broken play.
It’s true the first try, to Chris Eves, came after he’d clearly knocked the ball on, there was no question at all about the next two, that shot the Canes out to a stunning 21 point lead after 21 minutes.
Ben Lam’s stunning pace was the key issue in his try, and the earlier try to TJ Perenara came after a stunning break from another Barrett, Jordie, providing a reminder of why he was the first choice to replace Ben Smith against the Lions last year.
Jordie’s run cut through usually sound defence as if he was playing touch.
He’s a fantastic footballer (whisper it but there are some inside the All Black camp in recent years who think he may actually be the most talented Barrett), and his combination of skill, size, strength, and speed makes him almost the model of the modern fullback.
Of course, when you’re looking for true to make a comeback, who you gonna call? The Crusaders.
The loss of first back leader, Ryan Crotty, and then the forward leader and captain, Sam Whitelock to concussion injuries would have rocked, if not destroyed, many teams.
But they grimly did what they could to claw their way back, although the Hurricanes showed plenty of backbone too.
In the end there would only be room for one comeback for the ages in New Zealand sport this week, and that would remain the effort by Ross Taylor in Dunedin.