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Aisle be Back: Barrett on fire and NPC week three

Representative Rugby | 30 August 2018 | Kevin McCarthy

Aisle be Back: Barrett on fire and NPC week three

Above: TJ Perenara and Ardie Savea in action for the Hurricanes earlier this year - both start for the Wellington Lions this Friday night against Southland. 

When you light up the turf like Beauden Barrett, then you’ve got to expect things to get silly. From sacrificial Goat pre-Bledisloe, to potential GOAT, all in the space of two tests.

GOAT, all capitals, is the moniker for Greatest Of All Time. Poor Beaudy, no-one should have that slung at them at this stage in the career.

They’re not the same players but inevitably the comparisons are made with Dan Carter, and in particular that second test against the Lions in Wellington, 2005.

Carter scored two tries and 33 points; while Barrett racked up 30 points, and four tries.

But I don’t think you could equate the slicing and dicing of the Wallabies with the Lions test.

It’s not that the Lions were really much good, certainly several ranks below Warren Gatland’s crew. Because honestly this Wallabies team isn’t much cop either.

So the difference for me is that Carter’s genius was in a match that really counted. The All Blacks could take out the series with a second win.

RLM

But more than that, was the atmosphere going into this game. After the spear-tackle on Brian O’Driscoll the week before, there had been a filthy mood between the sides. It permeated the match and the fans. I know the latter, because I was there.

I know that when Umaga scored to cancel out an early Lions strike, we rose as one, turned around to the massed Lions fans behind us, and gave them an almighty razzing.

It was that sort of tension, like nothing I’d struck before or since. So I imagine a hundred times more for the players. And so Carter came out and played sublimely.

I’ll mention one other game he was superb in – the 2015 World Cup final. He was as far as many were concerned, just over the hill. But with the knowledge that he was having his one and only shot at glory he nailed it that day.

Perhaps Beaudy will do the same one day in a clinch match and score four more tries. And then and only then, might he become the GOAT.

And as for four try efforts, what about these two. Wallabies No 8 Greg Cornelson, in 1978 at Eden Park, and Christian Cullen’s quartet in 1996 – only his second test - against Scotland. It’s fair to say they left both the opponents and the fans dumb-founded.

So they’re pretty rare beasts and all special in different ways.

+++++

Choke on my cornflakes. I could write a column or three on the dumb idea that taxpayers could subsidise the NZRU.

So here are some bullet points.

  • Rugby is our richest sport. It needs to do its business better if it needs to find more resources. They’ve done pretty well so far, so have some faith.
  • Players would love it if the NZ government entered the market for talent and bid up prices.
  • The top tier will always be under threat, yet it’s the second tier that is also really of concern. But there’s no evidence yet that New Zealand is being fatally weakened by a player drain. To be honest, quite the reverse, although there’s no doubt it is weakening our closest rivals, South Africa and Australia.
  • And finally governments do already support the All Blacks. For example, there was that nice little earner called the 2011 World Cup. It’s widely held that lobbying by our government was a clincher in getting the event.

So that’s just for starters. Nice try at flyng the kite, Steve Tew, but it ain’t going to soar.

+++++

The Wellington Lions should be firm favourites to beat the Southland Stags and win well on Friday night.

With a forward pack consisting of players such as the returning Asafo Aumua, Vaea Fifita and Ardie Savea they should be far too dynamic for Southland with a pack of honest NPC battlers.

Then there is TJ Perenara starting at halfback, and in combination with Jackson Garden-Bachop. There should be little respite for the Stags there. Wes Goosen at fullback could also be an inspired selection.

Kevin is a lifetime Hurricanes fan. He and his partner are on a two-year Volunteer Service Abroad posting to Vanuatu's Espiritu Santo island. He's working on a project to build a South Pacific World War 2 museum on the site of an enormous Allied base on the island. Check it out at www.southpacificwwiimuseum.com

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