1
'He can do freakish things that are beyond Johnny and Owen' - Dan Carter puts Barrett in a class of his own
By Online Editors
Former All Black Rugby World Cup-winning flyhalf Dan Carter has offered his thoughts on the current crop of international flyhalves Beauden Barrett, Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell in a column penned for The Times.
Since Carter retired from international rugby after the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Barrett, Sexton, and Farrell have been regarded as the best 10's in the world.
Beauden Barrett won back-to-back World Rugby Player of the Year awards before Sexton took home the award in 2018 while Farrell led England to back-to-back Six Nations crowns before Sexton's Ireland completed a Grand Slam.
Continue reading below...
"Beauden is the kind of player, whether at flyhalf or fullback, who has the X factor to change a game with one play. He has lightning speed and can do freakish things that are beyond Johnny and Owen," Carter wrote for The Times.
Carter says each has their own strengths, but he felt Sexton and Farrell were more adept at organising the troops around them in as a game manager. He said Barrett's game management has come under the microscope recently.
"Beauden has had to grow into that role over the past couple of years. It is not as natural for him as for the other two," Carter said.
"In tight World Cup matches, your game management needs to be world-class and there have been questions over Beauden," he said.
He said that Farrell's goal-kicking under pressure is 'right up there'. Since the last World Cup, Owen Farrell has kicked 100 percent during the last 10 minutes when kicking a decisive goal to seal or win a match. Barrett's had his issues at home, most notably during the Lions series and against South Africa.
"He may have had the odd bad game kicking-wise, but you just have to look at his career. He is accurate and professional so there are no doubts at all, come the big occasion, that he will step up," Carter said.
"He is a class player with a cool head, who reads the game well, and there are no worries there. He will learn from his setbacks - like against the Lions when he missed some kicks. The closest thing to a World Cup is a Lions series in terms of being able to perform under pressure, so if he is in a similar situation I am confident that he will have learnt a lot."
Carter praised Sexton's organisation on the pitch, saying he runs the team 'extremely' well and picks the right moment to kick.
"Jonny runs the team extremely well. He probably doesn't have the attacking flair of Beauden but is very good at game management."
Farrell's physicality was also highlighted as a trait that inspires his teammates. He believed Farrell's temperament has changed recently, saying he is 'a lot more level-headed than a few years ago'.
"When you see your No.10 putting in a big shot, it inspires the people around him. He got a couple wrong last season, on André Esterhuizen and Izack Rodda, but his temperament has changed.
Sexton holds a 3-1-1 team record over Barrett in the five clashes they have had since the last World Cup, with two wins and one loss playing against the All Blacks with Ireland and one win and one draw playing for the British & Irish Lions.
Farrell lost his only clash against the All Blacks playing for England last November, while he started in all three tests on the Lions tour for an overall record of 1-2-1 since the last World Cup when facing Barrett and the All Blacks.
Rugby World Cup city guide - Oita:
Trending on RugbyPass
2
South Africa vs England player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series
3
All Blacks player ratings vs France
4
Netherlands serve up Tier 2 shock as another World Cup side slayed
5
Latest Comments
Mallia deserves 8 at least. Brains and skills for the comeback. Him, Garcia and Albornoz the core of The Pumas attack. Hope to see them in the 15s against France
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
Go to comments