I felt sorry for Fall says Barrett
Beauden Barrett’s all right; that’s the main thing.
In the hubbub about whether or not France fullback Benjamin Fall ought to have been issued a red card, at Westpac Stadium back on June 16, Barrett’s frightening fall was a bit overlooked.
The All Blacks first five-eighth could have been seriously hurt and it’s largely thanks to good fortune that he wasn’t.
Barrett will play his first game since, when the Hurricanes host the Blues on Saturday, glad to be in one piece and bearing no illwill towards Fall.
‘‘I just went up and obviously it was a contestable kick so I put my hands up [above my head] as opposed to taking it on the chest. As soon as you do that, you lose a lot more balance and control,’’ Barrett explained yesterday.
Barrett tipped at that point, crashing into the Westpac Stadium turf head first.
‘‘That’s part of rugby, it’s part of the contest and I’d hate for it to be taken away.’’
He didn’t have time to become concerned about the way he was falling.
‘‘No, it happened too quick. It just happened so fast. One second I was up there [and] thought I had the ball, the next second I was flat on my back.’’
After looking at replays on the big screen, and consulting the other match officials, referee Angus Gardner sent Fall off. It was a decision that caused plenty of debate then, and again when Australia’s Israel Folau was yellow-carded after a similar contest for the ball against Ireland.
‘‘I caught up with [Benjamin] after the game and I told him I felt sorry for him. I didn’t think it deserved what he got and I was pleased to see he was back available the following week,’’ said Barrett.
‘‘Unfortunately he had to go through the judiciary process and so on, but it was great he was back playing the next week. It was unintentional and, yeah, it was good to catch up with him after that game.’’
In the rush to keep rugby safe and avoid, what All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s been calling ‘‘grey areas,’’ some suggested contested kicks be taken out of the game. But that’s not a view Barrett subscribes to.
‘‘It’ll be a shame if it’s taken away. I just think we need to get a bit of clarity around the rulings so that referees can be a 100 per cent clear on if it’s intentional, if it’s unintentional, and then whether it’s a penalty or yellow card and so on.
‘‘I’d hate for it to be taken away. It’s a great area of the game; it shows a lot of skills and you can use it from a tactical point of view as well. I’m sure there’ll be work done – there probably already has – so I guess we’re waiting on World Rugby to make a call on whether there’s need for rule changes or just a bit more clarity on it.’’
Barrett returns to a Hurricanes team that’s lost three Super Rugby games in a row. He played the first two, before sitting out Saturday’s 24-12 defeat to the Brumbies after completing his concussion protocols.
‘‘It’s not easy watching. I become an armchair critic like the rest of us,’’ he said.