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'Individuals are stepping up': Vern Cotter on Beauden Barrett's influence
By Henry Lee
It was almost now or never for the Blues, heading into round eight of Super Rugby Pacific with one win and five losses.
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An in form Hurricanes team travelled to Eden Park to take on the Blues after putting 57 points on the NSW Waratahs in round seven in Wellington.
The 19-18 victory against the Hurricanes could prove to be a turning point in the Blues’ season, where their only other victory in 2025 is also against the Wellington-based side.
Step up, Beauden Barrett, who’s kicking game on Saturday night often got the Blues out of trouble in their own end, while also pinning the Hurricanes back in their half.
Blues head coach Vern Cotter was quick to praise his star playmaker, as Barrett made his return from a hand injury that has kept him out of action since the Brumbies loss in round four.
“He had a great game today, kicking off the tee, touch finding and strategic kicking too,” Cotter said to media post-match.”
“I thought our kicking improved in the second half and that we might have been leaving a few opportunities out there in the first half, and had the gate half open for them.
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“I think we shut it down by smarter, better, controlled kicking game around tempo and then I’ve got to give the forward pack credit too.”
Cotter explained that it was nice to see his forward pack front up, saying that they provided good go-forward for the backs.
“I thought they rolled the sleeves up today and got their body positions down and started going forward.”
All Blacks lock and Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu was pleased with the victory, even though his team aren’t where they would like to be at this stage of the season.
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“Yeah, very pleasing, and just inside the camp, like the camaraderie between the team, you can that feel togetherness,” Tuipulotu said to media at Eden Park.
“It’s pretty crucial, it feels good, like everyone’s just getting stuck in, we were not dwelling on what’s happened in the past and usually that would take a while to get over that hurdle.
“But tonight, we showed that we can get through that.”
When asked about whether he thinks his team are getting back to the form they showed last year, Cotter said he believes they’re on the right track.
“Yeah, I think there’s a there’s a couple of signs that we can get ourselves in situations and dig ourselves out of them.
“We need to keep working on our set piece, keep working on our defence. I thought our defence today was good, we focused on taking a couple of meters off each ruck.
“The defensive effort is always where you see the heart of a team and I thought there’s some real contesting going on within our group and individuals are stepping up.”
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I wish Beaudie could turn on that 2nd half performance level all the time, he looked like a genuine world class #10, more so than DMac has ever done. It’s only the fact that the first half was some very mediocre decision making and accuracy that keeps the conversation open, but I can see why Razor is starting to prefer him for the role.
As for Tuipolotu and Ioane, it is hard to understand why Razor would consider either for the black jersey these days.
One All Black finally stepped up, but the rest are swanning around knowing they won’t get dropped, so why bother performing. They know they’ll not only make the Blues every week, but the All Blacks squad as well.
When players get dropped in NZ, it’s next to never that it’s an established AB, it’s the others who get the chop.
Barrett was the major point of difference in the Blues sneaking home over the Hurricanes however not sure that means that they can claim a resurgence in their fortunes. 1 point margin at home over the only team they have beaten this season is not a cause for such confidence. Hurricanes are not the force they were last year either. Another couple of losses, and they still have stronger teams to play, and they are toast for this season. I can see the Blues still in line to emulate last year’s Crusaders.