Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Blues won't retreat into their shells against the Crusaders says Barrett

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The Blues 20-19 victory over the Brumbies sealed a date with Scott Robertson’s Crusaders side in next week’s final at Eden Park where the two clubs will meet again after a thrilling encounter in Round 9.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Crusaders will be searching for a sixth title in six years after three straight Super Rugby titles followed by two domestic ones in 2020 and 2021, however this will be just the second time under Robertson they contest a final away from home.

Their first championship under Robertson was perhaps their most unlikely, upsetting the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg 25-17 for a famous away win. They will have to repeat that feat again as they will likely be priced as slight underdogs in a final for the first time since then.

Video Spacer

Hurricanes and Highlanders season debrief | The Breakdown

Video Spacer

Hurricanes and Highlanders season debrief | The Breakdown

Blues captain Beauden Barrett explained that ‘this is the final everyone wanted and we wanted’ following the semi-final win, where the 30-year-old first five will attempt to claim his second Super Rugby title after a magnificent season with the Blues.

“There’ll be plenty of that [emotion] in the media – especially social media,” Barrett said of the anticipation for the final. 

“How well we stay focussed and prepare is so critical this week, and not letting any of that external noise divert our attention. We’ve got to enjoy the week. It’s our last one, it’s guaranteed.

“How tight we stay together and stick to what we’ve been doing and trust that, I think that’s what this week will be all about.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The Blues were slow out of the gate against the Highlanders in the first half last week and this week it was the second half as they struggled to register a single point.

Those jitters are hopefully behind them says Barrett, who is confident the side won’t retreat into their shell like they have in periods across the first two playoff games.

“Potentially, but we’ve had a bit of a taste of finals footy in the last two weeks. You could treat them as dress rehearsals. I think already there’s a lot more excitement because it is
the final week,” he said.

“Although we’ve been treating each game like a final, it’s THE final. So there’s no time to go into our shells, it’s time to express ourselves and just embrace the challenge and enjoy it.”

ADVERTISEMENT

After giving up a try in the first three minutes against the Brumbies, the Blues hit their stride during a period of attack in the first half where fullback Stephen Perofeta sliced through the Brumbies on a kick return. After some powerful running up the middle, No 8 Hoskins Sotutu crashed over to give the Blues the lead for the first time.

Barrett said that was the Blues playing their most potent game, utilising their power runners at a high tempo to bulldoze through teams.

“That’s us playing at our best,” he said of the passage of play leading to their first try.

“It was not an ideal way to start the game, letting in a set-piece try like that, but the way we bounced back, we showed some great composure and found our groove a lot quicker than we did probably last week anyway.

“That’s us at our best, carrying the ball well and playing on top of teams – keeping it pretty simple.”

The Blues pair of playmakers combined late in the first half after a similar destructive passage of phase play. When the chance to go wide came, a damaging run by Barrett beat a handful of Brumbies defenders. He found an offload for Perofeta to keep the play alive before the Blues’ fullback quickly connected with Mark Telea to score in the corner.

The combination between Perofeta and Barrett has been firing over the back half of the season and will be critical to a Blues’ victory next week against the Crusaders.

“Absolutely,” Barrett said when asking if he was clicking with Perofeta, “I feel really comfortable with our connection and how calm he is as a player but also at critical times, he’s a great communicator and we understand how we both need it in those moments.

“He’s playing with confidence at the moment and he’s really backing himself and we’ve seen that for a while now and I’m really happy for him.

“We know what this team needs from the both of us and there will be a fair amount of responsibility on our shoulders to play well tactically next week – as there is any week.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones
Search