Much-improved Barrett may not have
One of the more remarkable things about the All Blacks’ tour of Europe was Beauden Barrett’s apparent transformation into Jannie de Beer.
The Hurricanes playmaker had never even attempted a drop goal before the England test, but at Twickenham and then a week later in Dublin, Barrett nailed two drop goals – and he looked comfortable doing it.
Looking back, however, it appears those drop goals were the icing on the cake.
After the loss to South Africa in Wellington last year Barrett didn’t miss another penalty for the rest of 2018 and his overall kicking stats sat at 87.5 per cent, 21 successful kicks from 24.
So what happened? The first thing to acknowledge is that in Barrett’s first four tests of 2018, up to and including the Springboks loss, there was a problem.
From 29 shots Barrett was on target with just 16 of them, for a return of just 55 per cent.
This low figure was exacerbated by two poor nights, against France at Eden Park in June and again against South Africa in Wellington.
Against a background of a good Super Rugby campaign – Barrett kicked 34 out of 42 conversions for a success rate of 81 per cent, while nailing eight of nine penalties at 89 per cent – a picture begins to emerge of what sort of kicker Barrett is.
We can say two things with a fair degree of confidence: first, he has improved his kicking after that night in Wellington; and second, there isn’t a fundamental issue with his technique.
There isn’t a flaw that outweighs what he delivers for the All Blacks coaches in terms of what they want from him – an attacking No 10 with pace.
In fact, if you recall the away game in South Africa, Barrett nailed tough penalties, under scoreboard pressure, from distance and on the ‘wrong’ side for a right-footed player.
However, there’s a third element here that implies that critics of his kicking aren’t just spouting nonsense.
When Barrett doesn’t kick