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'Young Beauden Barrett' unearthed amongst Super Rugby breakouts
By Ned Lester
There are a number of young Kiwi playmakers lighting up the early rounds of Super Rugby Pacific in 2025, prompting a question to former All Black Stephen Donald who delivered his verdict on the most promising of the contingent.
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Across each of the Super Rugby clubs there are first-fives closer to 20 than 26 who are each entering the race to be the next generation of All Blacks 10.
Donald focussed on three names who have made strong impressions to begin 2025: Josh Jacomb of the Chiefs, Harry Godfrey of the Hurricanes and Taha Kemara of the Crusaders.
Each of the trio have started both opening rounds in the respective No. 10 jerseys for their sides, and each have been genuine contributors to winning performances.
For Donald, affectionately know as ‘Beaver’, the international potential of the players is a nuanced topic.
“If there was a Test tomorrow, Jacomb. If everyone else ahead of them was wiped out and the All Blacks needed someone to start the first Test of the year, Jacomb,” he said on The Aftermatch with Kirst and Beav.
“Give me two years, and I reckon there’s something about that Godfrey. If you drift off into your crystal ball, there’s a young Beauden Barrett there. You watch that big linebreak he made, not sure if he ended up scoring it or someone else picked up the crumbs, but he made this massive linebreak in the first half and that was very Beaudy Barrett-esque.
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“When Beaudy first came onto the scene, ‘Oh, I see something round there’ and gas it. I don’t know if I was imagining it but he’s almost got a similar running style. I just see a lot of him in there. There’s a big, big upside there.
“So, he’s the one I reckon, if you’re looking long, long term, could be the All Black 10.
“But, at the same time, isn’t Taha, every time he goes out, looking better? The interesting thing is he breaks out when he’s getting rushed. Usually, if you’re getting rushed you cut in and you get cleaned up, but he’s got the feet and the agility to break out.
“Teams are going to surely get smarter to it and come from wider when they’re going to have a crack at him, but at the moment, like he probably did it like five times against the Chiefs; caught it, knew the heat was coming and then had the agility to go sideways.
“Then, of course, if you go out, there’s less defenders out there so you can set your outsides away. But, if you cut in, you’re going to get cleaned up by some big forward.”
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Beaver’s co-host Kirsty Stanway shared her observation that the Crusaders looked far more dangerous in the first half with Kemara at 10 than after the 45-minute mark when the youngster was replaced by former Wallaby James O’Connor.
“Yeah, it’s an interesting scenario. I reckon the Chiefs got smarter at halftime. Early doors, I know they had the wind behind them, but they were kicking long. The Crusaders were getting all their momentum from the Will Jordan and Sevu Reece kick returns. Second half, they didn’t get many of those.
“So, I reckon at halftime the Chiefs would have had a word at halftime and said ‘Should we stop kicking it down the throat of the two best attackers in New Zealand rugby?’ Because they were just kicking it down and giving Will Jordan and Sevu Reece 40 metres to figure out who they were going to pick on.”
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Northland 10 , Rivez Reihana is due back from injury soon for the Crusaders. He is a very good player . Looking promising near the end of 2024 campaign. Be good having him , AB’s, Braydon Ennor , Codie Taylor and outstanding lock Jamie Hannah all back for the red and blacks.
RR is highy underrated.
Taha Kemara has really made big steps forward for the Crusaders. at first five. Because of a nasty injury he did not get much rugby at first-five. Canterbury 10 James White is there looks good. Harry Inch straight out of Nelson Boys is a talent. Isaac Hutchinson , a fullback for Canterbury , had a brilliant NPC has been with the Crusaders. Great talent coming through.
Did Isaac Hutchinson make the main squad? I didn’t recall seeing his name initially, which was very surprising.
I mean at 21, it’s not like he’s a kid, so a bit surprising they’re taking the softly-softly approach with such an obvious talent. If they don’t get him in there, another franchise (or country) will swoop on him.
TK has taken a long time to find his feet. Saders benched then dropped him last season and so did Waikato who improved out of sight once Aaron Cruden took over at 10.