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Barrett's holiday cancelled

Pack your boots, Beaudy

Beauden Barrett has been recalled to the All Blacks side after Lima Sopoaga’s unavailability for the trip to Argentina and South Africa.

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Sopoaga was due for only his second start in his 11 test career, with the only other being a memorable role in the 27-20 victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park in 2015.

Barrett, along with five other senior All Blacks, was originally given the week off and was scheduled to join the side once they reached Cape Town for the next match against the Springboks.

Instead, he will once again don the number 10 jersey against the Pumas, and will most likely play 80 minutes. This season he’s stayed on the park for the full duration despite being relieved at first five by Sopoaga in the second halves of matches, moving to fullback and occasionally popping up at first receiver.

The only time he has been substituted off the field was in the All Blacks’ first test of the year against Manu Samoa, which was comfortably won 78-0.

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Tom 7 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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