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Hurricanes make fourth positional change for Jordie Barrett

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

Hurricanes star Jordie Barrett will play in a fourth different position on Friday after being named to start at centre for their clash against the Highlanders in Dunedin.

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The ongoing alteration between positions highlights the 22-year-old’s versatility in the backline, after having already played at fullback, wing and second-five for the Hurricanes this season.

Barrett’s move back from wing to the midfield comes after a knock to first-string centre Matt Proctor was enough to demote him to the bench, while fellow midfielder Vince Aso’s pectoral injury has been confirmed as season-ending, with his only glimmer of hope of returning to Super Rugby this year lying with a deep play-offs run by the Hurricanes in July.

Should Barrett make a noteworthy performance in the No. 13 jersey, he could add another dimension to the All Blacks‘ midfield battle set to ensue ahead of the World Cup.

Only four midfield slots will be available for the tournament in Japan, and there are already five genuine contenders for a spot via Sonny Bill Williams, Ryan Crotty, Jack Goodhue, Anton Lienert-Brown and Barrett’s Hurricanes teammate and midfield partner Ngani Laumape.

After proving his worth with an impressive outing at second-five against the Stormers in Wellington a fortnight ago, Barrett could add himself to that list of genuine midfield options as someone who can cover both second-five and centre, as well as wing and fullback.

Other points of interest in the side includes the addition of Bay of Plenty and Manu Samoa lock Kane Le’aupepe, who earns a start after making his Super Rugby debut from off the bench in his side’s 32-8 defeat to the Crusaders last week.

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Regular skipper Dane Coles remains out of action due to an ongoing calf strain, meaning star halfback TJ Perenara will retain the captaincy duties.

“While we were disappointed with the result against the Crusaders the coaching group still found some positives in how we played, especially the way we performed up front,” head coach John Plumtree said.

“The challenge for us now is to get the rest of our game to where it needs to be against what will be a really motivated Highlanders team who will be desperate to play well in front of their home fans.”

Hurricanes team to face the Highlanders: 1. Fraser Armstrong, 2. Ricky Riccitelli, 3. Ben May, 4. James Blackwell, 5. Kane Le’aupepe, 6. Vaea Fifita, 7. Ardie Savea, 8. Reed Prinsep, 9. TJ Perenara, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Ben Lam, 12. Ngani Laumape, 13. Jordie Barrett, 14. Wes Goosen, 15. Chase Tiatia

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Reserves: 16. Asafo Aumua, 17. Chris Eves, 18. Jeff To’omaga-Allen, 19. Isaia Walker-Leawere, 20. Liam Mitchell, 21. Du’Plessis Kirifi, 22. Finlay Christie, 23. Matt Proctor

Watch – Highlanders head coach Aaron Mauger speaks ahead of Hurricanes clash:

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Flankly 1 minute 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?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 10 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 40 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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