1
Beauden Barrett responds to concerns around his goal kicking...sort of
By Nicholas McGee
Beauden Barrett believes New Zealand's drawn series with the British and Irish Lions was the wake-up call the All Blacks needed as he rejected talk his disappointing goal-kicking had affected his confidence.
Fly-half Barrett missed five kicks in the final two Tests with the Lions, who came back from a convincing first Test defeat to win the second and claim a 15-15 draw in the series finale.
But the 26-year-old, fourth on the list of all-time All Blacks points scorers in Tests with 362, was quick to brush off questions over his form with the boot.
"I've been goal-kicking since I was six years old," Barrett said ahead of their Rugby Championship opener with Australia on Saturday.
"I've always been analysing my technique and it's no different to any other skill set.
"I'm excited about working on various areas of my game, and I'm excited about this weekend."
Of the stalemate with the Lions, he added: "We were perhaps tested in areas where we haven't been before, so that's exactly what we wanted.
"We ask those hard questions of ourselves and of our team mates and it gets the best out of the team. It is just what we needed."
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Stuart Lancaster takes giant stride towards immediate Racing 92 exit
3
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh on Joe Schmidt’s future post-Lions
4
Glasgow coach jumps to defence of McDowall who faces possible huge ban
5
Latest Comments
I've not watched any of the Top 14, but am I right that he was very very good for the first couple of weeks, and then has been pretty ineffective since?
Go to commentsVery good point. I think the CO2 cost of international sport is a big taboo today (and it doesn't look like it'll change anytime soon unfortunately for all humans).
Regarding your second point, I fully agree as well. We have seen this very one-eyed backlash of the French policy on the July tour, most people refuse to see that the best SA players are suffering from the exact same problem : accumulated fatigue from playing too much without significant breaks. The Boks and the Argentinians played the world cup, the URC/Top14/Premiership, the July series, the Championship, etc, etc, with almost no compulsary resting period. This has to change, for the sake of the players, and in fine for the sake of the sport !
Go to comments