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Blues fans want Jordie Barrett to follow Beauden

Jordie Barrett (left) and Beauden Barrett. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

The Blues have secured one of the biggest signings in recent times by agreeing a four year deal with two-time World Player of the Year Beauden Barrett.

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This is a move that has surprised some fans, particularly Hurricanes supporters, as the Blues finished bottom of the New Zealand Super Rugby conference last season, while the Canes were arguably the second best team in the competition, losing narrowly to the champions the Crusaders in the semi-final.

However, it is down to personal reasons that he has made this move, as his family now live in Auckland.
The Blues have been the perennial underachievers in Super Rugby compared to their national rivals. The other four New Zealand sides have won the competition over the past decade, while the Blues have languished at the foot of the table. This is despite making a number of high profile signings. But there has not been one as big as this, and the excitement and expectation amongst Blues fans is rising again.

It is a long lasting joke in New Zealand that the Blues’ enter the competition with high hopes each year, only to have them dashed within a few weeks. Once again there is a lot of optimism going into the 2020 season, but that is understandable given the pedigree of the fly-half.

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Furthermore, Blues fans are hoping that this deal for Beauden will lure his brothers Jordie and Scott to Auckland as well. Fullback Jordie has played alongside Beauden at the Hurricanes all his Super Rugby career to date, while lock Scott plays for the Crusaders.

Signing either of these All Blacks would be the cherry on the cake to what is already a marvellous signing.

This is what the fans have said:

https://twitter.com/GarethJ_Roberts/status/1149431961955524611?s=20
https://twitter.com/AaronBello1234/status/1149424212102328320?s=20
https://twitter.com/fasitua/status/1149451658562113536?s=20
https://twitter.com/chrisvsbvb09/status/1149428923123433473?s=20
https://twitter.com/Kuntchi13/status/1149426814244311040?s=20
https://twitter.com/Afiqikhwann/status/1149517416331804674?s=20
https://twitter.com/FST4u/status/1149579843786252289?s=20
https://twitter.com/jandleslappa/status/1149563335869788161?s=20

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Barrett is going to take an extended break after the World Cup, meaning he will miss the start of the 2020 season. Additionally, the New Zealand Rugby Union have agreed that he can take a stint in Japan at some point over the next four years. But the Blues will still undoubtedly benefit from his class whenever he plays, and the fans are filled with confidence again.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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