Barrett back in lineup after learning break
Coach says youngster has come long way since Boks blunder
Achastened and wiser Jordie Barrett is expected to return to the All Blacks’ starting lineup in Tokyo to play Japan. The youngest Barrett brother in the squad has been on a learn and evolve break since he suffered an awkward night in Wellington against the Springboks.
A test that started well for Barrett when he picked the perfect line to run off his brother Beauden to score the opening try, turned in the wrong direction when he threw an illadvised quick lineout to Rieko Ioane.
It was the wrong option, poorly executed and the outcome was a try to Willie le Roux and the beginning of a South African resurgence that saw them push on to claim their first victory in New Zealand since 2009.
Barrett hasn’t played since but he should be involved against Japan with a mandate to put into practice what he has learned in the wake of that defeat.
The All Blacks have been careful to ensure Barrett absorbed the mistakes he made in Wellington but didn’t feel victimised or restricted from trying things in future tests.
“He’s very young,” said All Blacks coach Ian Foster about Barrett. “We are hard on players. We put them in the black jersey and they make some mistakes and then we kind of write them off to a certain degree.
“We have got a number of very young backs who are still learning but at the same time they are also confident enough to do what they are really good at on the park.
“So there is a balancing act to . . . how we treat mistakes because if we squash them every time we are going to lose that compulsiveness which is pretty special with this group.”
Foster said the coaching challenge with Barrett is similar to the one they faced with Damian McKenzie in 2016 and 2017.
McKenzie came into the test team as an instinctive, unreserved footballer who was willing to take major risks that often brought major rewards.
But there were occasions where he made costly errors that could have been avoided had he shown some restraint and more discipline.
Perseverance is beginning to reap rewards for McKenzie who is maturing into a more balanced
decision-maker and Foster has the same hope for Barrett.
“Young players love to play,” he said. “It is not easy for them when they don’t get picked but he’s been massively impressive.
“We have challenged him on how he learns and . . . how he prepares.
“He’s done a great job and you can see growing awareness of what his role is. He’s asking good questions — in fact he’s probably asking fewer questions [because] he is a lot clearer.
“The break has been good for him. But let’s not deny that we love his instincts and he has a natural sort of talent . . . that we don’t want to curb,
but clearly there are some things on the international stage where you have got to have some more discipline and he has been working on that.
“He’s understanding his defensive reads and understanding when it is time to go and when it is not and they are not easy things to get right. He’s coming from a system where they defend differently to how we have. He gets a big tick at the moment.”
Barrett, it would seem, will be in a back three likely to include Nehe Milner-Skudder and Waisake Naholo in a match day 23 that will probably only have one survivor — Richie Mo’unga — from the Yokohama 23.
Mo’unga and Te Toiroa Tahururangi are set to be the halves, with Ngani Laumape and Matt Proctor the probable midfield.
Luke Whitelock, who led the All Black XV in the non-test against a French XV last year, is tipped to be captain from No 8 with Dalton Papali’i and Vaea Fifita rounding out the loose trio.
An injury to Luke Romano prevented him from travelling, meaning Jackson Hemopo will be pressed into the second row alongside Patrick Tuipulotu and Tim Perry, Dane Coles and Ofa Tu’ungafasi are the likely starting front-row.