Jordie’s big air skills swing it

The French may be a bit of a ‘‘mystery’’ for Steve Hansen, but the All Blacks coach is confident he has solved one key puzzle with his decision to go for the Barrett triple-threat in his team for tomorrow’s series opener in Auckland.

Hansen has made history by including all three Barrett brothers – Beauden, Scott and Jordie – in his starting XV for Eden Park, and he made it clear the selection of 21-year-old Jordie at fullback, in probably the one contentious call of the lineup, was made with French tactics very much front of mind.

Jordie has essentially won a tight battle with Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo for the lone contestable back-three spot, leaving the All Blacks with two fullbacks (Ben Smith is on the right wing) and the classy Rieko Ioane covering the backfield.

‘‘We were pretty impressed with how Jordie went for us last year against the Lions. He played really well. He’s got some aerial skills we’re looking for, and we think both he and Bender [Smith] give us a really good aerial back three – world-class. And, of course, Rieko picks himself.

‘‘It’s tough on Wise [Naholo] because he’s playing well, but at the end of the day you can’t please everyone, so you might as well please yourself.’’

Hansen also clarified the mental state of his young fullback on the back of his incident last weekend that saw police called when he and a friend mistakenly entered the wrong house in Dunedin to eat their fast-food snacks at 5am.

‘‘It was a big week made by other people. All he did was got lost and was eating hamburgers at probably too late an hour. He learnt the lesson from that, we dealt with it pretty quickly as a group and he moved on pretty quickly.

‘‘He realises it was a stuffup, he’s been good, he’s trained well, he’s excited, a competitor, and really wants to be part of the playing group, so he’s no different to his two brothers in that department.’’

Hansen’s 23 otherwise largely picked itself. Anton LienertBrown deserved a shot at centre, in Sonny Bill Williams’ absence, because ‘‘he’s been playing particularly well’’, and also because chief rival Jack Goodhue had been battling sickness early in the week, as well as a tight hamstring.

It was a similar story at No 8 where Luke Whitelock, younger brother of new skipper Sam, was a natural choice with Jordan Taufua still feeling his calf problem, while on the bench the inform Ngani Laumape continued their policy of carrying a midfielder and Damian McKenzie got the nod, over Richie Mo’unga, because of his ‘‘utility value’’.

Hansen was less certain about what’s coming from the French, repeating his mantra about their defensive prowess off the back of a statistically impressive Six Nations.

‘‘We know we’re playing an experienced and smart French team. We haven’t heard too much from them all week which is a good indication they’re in the house, and we know when they’re in the house they’re a dangerous unit. Statistically they’re the best defensive side in the world, and we know they can play footy when they’ve got the ball.’’

He noted their team included big, mobile props, an experienced second row, a halfback, in Morgan Parra, who was ‘‘a really good general and runs the game well’’ and a midfield combination of complementary styles in the monstrous Mathieu Bastareaud and Geoffrey Doumayrou.