No special treatment for Beauden Barrett
When Beauden Barrett makes his return to club rugby for the first time in about a decade, he won't be given any special treatment.
Barrett will make his return to rugby for Taranaki premier side Coastal in their match against Southern in the small rural town of Rahotu, south of New Plymouth, in early April - with his return to Super Rugby expected to follow soon after.
Speaking to the Radio Sport Breakfast, Coastal coach Kane Barrett – Beauden's older brother – said he would be making the most of the All Blacks first five-eighth's availability.
"If he's coming out there, he's playing 80; he's playing the full hog," Kane said. "If he's not pulling the line, like any other player he'll be holding the water bottles.
"Whatever clauses are in there (from the Blues or All Blacks), we'll just make it work.
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"We're excited to have Beaudy back. It's great news. I'd heard whispers and thought it would be great but will it happen? And yep, the news has broken so the locals and myself are chomping at the bit to have him home.
"It's something we don't see a lot now in the professional game. All Blacks and professional guys don't get to play club rugby so that in itself is going to be huge.
"The population of Rahotu is about 250; well, gee whiz, it might be more like 10,000 I would imagine. It'll be good, there's plenty of room down there. We'll fit everyone in."
Barrett and the Blues are yet to officially reveal when he will return to action at Super Rugby level, though it is believed his targeted return is for the clash against the Hurricanes on at Eden Park on April 11.
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
WATCH: Delve deep into the recent McKinsey Review and analyse Super Rugby action from the weekend just gone. Les Elder joins the team and an exclusive interview with Jason Holland ahead of the Blues v Hurricanes match this weekend.
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Spot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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