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Jordie Barrett started in the All Blacks No 12 jersey for the first time on Saturday night, a positional shift from his usual fullback role but a shift that the 196cm tall Kiwi has made it known he is ready for.
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Injuries to David Havili and Quinn Tupaea opened the door for Ian Foster’s third choice second five, with the coach electing to pick Barrett over Roger Tuivasa-Sheck due to the 60-odd minutes he had played there the previous game following the two injuries.
Barrett’s performance at second five has prompted calls for him to be Foster’s first option at 12 for the northern tour. Foster sounded less enthusiastic about Jordie’s involvement there moving forward but admitted it was a “phenomenal” performance from him at Eden Park.
Jordie spoke to press following the game where he was asked how he enjoyed the midfield and whether he sees a future for himself there for the All Blacks:
“Certainly loved it,” Barrett said. “Any opportunity I get to start with a black jersey, it’s awesome.
“Look I’m not sure what’s going to happen going forward but I just love being out there and getting an opportunity to go out there with the boys.”
Barrett was humble when asked about his performance in the win.
“It’s a lot easier when (numbers) one to eight do an outstanding job and you’re running off the back of some outstanding ball so they made my job a lot easier tonight.
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“I had the luxury of Nuggy (Aaron Smith) and Richie (Mo’unga), some world-class backs inside me, and Rieks (Ioane) and Beaudy (Barrett) and the rest of the boys outside, they made my job a lot easier tonight.”
Barrett was seen leaving a ruck with a gash on the side of his head and a fair amount of blood gushing from it, but reported the injury was nothing serious.
“It’s not too bad, finally hit a couple of rucks and came out with a bit of blood so just little nick, probably got about ten more outings at the doctor to match dad.”
Jordie’s dad, Kevin Barrett was a lock for Taranaki and a notorious hard-man, playing 167 matches.
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The All Blacks’ season has been a rocky one, making this final home game of the year an important momentum-builder before the team heads to Europe in November.
“It’s awesome, I got the question about consistency in the week and it’s nice to… I think that’s three on the bounce now… to continue building and that’s what this team’s striving for, in front of our fans as well.
“It was a performance we needed, we had a great week and our big boys set an outstanding platform for us tonight so it is pleasing.
“This next three weeks/month off is going to be a lot easier now but look, we’re not going to rest on our laurels, we’ve got some teams up in Europe that are waiting for us.”
The first Bledisloe test was a dramatic clash which saw the Wallabies comeback from
“We knew Australia were hurting after last week, even 17-0 up at the break, we learnt last week they don’t go away, it’s just the way the Australians are and we spoke a lot about that at halftime.
“We’ve just got to control what we can, don’t give them any easy outs with our discipline and try and play down their (end), I know it sounds simple but that’s the way footy is sometimes and we managed to find some ascendancy in that second half.
“I think once we got a bit of a deficit last week we got into a bit of a holding pattern and started sitting back and wondering what they might bring to us .”
He’s certainly an option, as much as anything because his frame and size can straighten up the attack and make an actual combination of traits to work with Ricko Ioane.
Having Lienert-Brown, Havili'i and Goodhue return from injury could change things, but my inkling is that the Barrett/Ioane ticket may be held on to, as much as anything because it allows the selectors to play Beauden Barrett at fullback again.