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Watch: The game where Beauden Barrett silenced the calls for Mo'unga from Crusaders' fans

Beauden Barrett.

In 2018 the Crusaders had well and truly taken over Super Rugby, affirming their dominance over New Zealand’s previous number one team, the Hurricanes.

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With it came growing calls from Canterbury for Richie Mo’unga to take over from Beauden Barrett as the All Blacks first-five.

The back-to-back World Rugby Player of the Year entered the 2018 international season under the cloud of Mo’unga debate as the All Blacks took on France in June.

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An unconvincing first 50-minutes in the first test did little to quell the talk, as the All Blacks went to sheds down at halftime.

A second-half blitz powered by Damian McKenzie and Ngani Laumape off the bench blew the French off the park but Barrett’s influence wasn’t at the level that the fans were used to.

Barrett himself lasted just 10-minutes in the second test after an aerial challenge with Benjamin Fall forced him from the field and out of the remainder of the series.

Heading into The Rugby Championship, the Crusaders had just secured back-to-back Super Rugby titles by downing the Lions for a second time, this time at home 37-18. On the way, they dispatched Barrett’s Hurricanes 30-12 in Christchurch in the semi-finals.

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The calls for Mo’unga to take over were peaking. It was time for Barrett to silence them.

In a 38-13 win in the first Bledisloe test Sydney, Barrett scored the pivotal try that broke the game open and set up two more in a 13-point haul.

The All Blacks returned to Eden Park to pump the Wallabies 40-12 with Barrett himself scoring four tries in a 30-point personal tally, a Bledisloe record.

Barrett quickly resumed his reign as the All Blacks 10 and put together another solid season to earn another nomination as the World Rugby Player of the Year but fell short of three straight awards, with the title going to Johnny Sexton.

Barrett’s four-try performance against the Wallabies would go down as the game that put the Mo’unga talk to bed in the 2018 season.

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fl 8 hours ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Smith generally isn't well connected to his forward pods; doesn't do a great job of distributing to those around him; and has inferior positional and contestable kicking games than Ford and Fin.


When England have had success over the past few years, its been either through (i) defensive rugby backed up with smart tactical kicking or (ii) high possession attacking phase play based on quick ruck ball. George Ford was key to the implementation of (i) in the RWC, and in the 6N win over Wales, and to the implementation of (ii) in the 6N games against Ireland and France. Smith did great at (ii) when running at tired defenders at the end of the Ireland match, but has never successfully implemented that gameplan from the start of a test because he doesn't distribute or support his forwards enough to create consistent fast ball and build attacks over multiple phases. Instead, his introduction to the starting side has resulted in much more playmaking responsibilities being forced onto whoever plays 9. Alex Mitchell copes ok with that, but I think he looks better with a more involved playmaking 10 outside him, and it really isn't a gameplan that works for JVP or Spencer. As a result of that the outside backs and centres have barely touched the ball when Smith has been at 10.


This might not have been too much of a disaster, as England have seemed to be moving slightly towards the sort of attacking gameplan that France played under Labit and Quins play (I think this was especially their approach when they won the league a few years ago - but its still a part of their play now), which is based on kicking to create broken field rugby. This is (i) a sharp departure from the gameplans that have worked for England in the past few seasons; (ii) bears very little relation to the tactical approaches of the non-Quins players in the England team; and (iii) is an absolute disaster for the blitz defence, which is weak in transition. Unsurprisingly, it has coincided with a sharp decline in England's results.

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