Revealed: Where
Word around the petrol pumps of Greytown is that Beauden Barrett, aka rugby’s Usain Bolt, has been granted the status of Emperor of the Isles.
The other weekend against Australia the young razzle-dazzler had a blinder. Indeed. Beaudy had such a blinder at times that it rendered half the country unable to see. Steve Hansen and the coaching staff were not quite so dazzled, but other folk have lined the streets of the internet in the hope of touching the hem of Barrett’s garment.
This is all terrifically exciting and uplifting for the game in this country. But amidst the Barrett brouhaha a few important points have been ignored. Yes, he did some quite exceptional things in the match, but he also gave a lot of ball back to Australia. In fact, Barrett’s distribution resulted in the Aussies regaining possession six times in the opening 20 minutes. A better side might have done something with it.
He also missed a glaring counterattack opportunity. After five minutes Barrett was running the ball out of the 22, with Waisake Naholo on his left. Only the Australia front row, a ponderous front row at that, stood in the way. Yet Barrett kicked the ball away when he and Naholo would have taken the tubbies to the cleaners. Big chance missed, although Australia’s defensive chaos would provide many more.
But let’s be positive and pause for a moment to celebrate three moments of sublime skill. The first came when Aaron Smith was charged down from the kick-off. Barrett slid across, scooped the ball up and sent a quite stupendous left-footed kick down the touchline.
The second saved a try. Barrett was defending on the left side of the scrum, when Australia went the other way. They broke through the All Blacks lines, and Kurtley Beale was heading for the line with a wet sail when Barrett mowed him down. It was a magnificent piece of cover defending and I am not sure that another 10 in the world is quick enough to have pulled it off.
The third piece of magic was when Barrett skinned the Aussie defence from the halfway line. You could say they were badly dog-legged, you could say Rob Simmons was slow and dozy, you could ask where the hell the fullback had got to. All of that is true but Barrett still had the pace and the instinct to go all the way.
After that, though, we are into Boy’s Own territory. Much is fantasy. Greg Cornelsen is still revered for the four tries he scored against New Zealand in 1978. Yet Cornelsen did not even catch the ball for any of his tries. They were flop-over-the-line jobs.
The beauty of three of Barrett’s tries also lay in the creation of others rather than in the wonder boy’s