‘Clutching at straws’: Scott Barrett addresses All Blacks’ Wellington hoodoo

On the eve of the All Blacks’ final Test on home soil this year, captain Scott Barrett was asked about the team’s surprisingly poor record in Wellington. The All Blacks haven’t won at Sky Stadium since 2018, with their most recent result being a 38-30 loss to Los Pumas on August 10^th.

For a sports team that boasts such an impressive overall winning record throughout their history - especially in New Zealand - their Wellington woes are nothing short of a shock. But, fortunately for them, the New Zealanders have an opportunity to turn that around.

After wrapping up the Bledisloe Cup with a hard-fought 31-28 win over the Wallabies in Sydney last Saturday, the two traditional rivals will go head-to-head in New Zealand’s capital on Saturday evening. Sky Stadium, which is informally known as the Cake Tin, will host Bledisloe II.

Fans in Wellington and the nation as a whole will be desperate to cheer the team onto victory before the All Blacks head off to Japan and Europe for their end-of-season tour. But before all that, it’s all about the Wallabies as the 'ABs' look to snap their Wellington hoodoo.

“Probably clutching at straws here thinking back,” Barrett told reporters on the sideline of the Sky Stadium field when asked about the hoodoo.

“I guess the last time we’re here, we’re against Argentina and we couldn’t get out of our own half. That was a huge problem in that game and we were slow to adapt.

“No two Tests matches are the same but we want to front up and get the win tomorrow night.

“… We want to finish this (Rugby) Championship strong,” he added later.

“We’ve felt like we haven’t had a complete performance this season yet so we’re looking to do that tomorrow night.”

In their last Test, the All Blacks got off to a red-hot start against the Wallabies with Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke all crossing for early tries. The visitors led 21-nil after 15 minutes which almost seemed to put the result beyond doubt at that stage.

But the Wallabies clawed their way back through openside flanker Fraser McReight who finished off a well-worked set-piece play off a lineout. Hooker Matt Faessler also crossed for a five-pointer later in the half to give Aussie rugby fans a glimmer of hope at the break.

The All Blacks’ Achilles heel this year has been the second half. Scott Roberton’s men have failed to score in the final quarter of five Tests so far this year, which means they’ve only registered points during the last 20 minutes on three occasions.

It’s been brought to coach Robertson’s attention multiple times after their matches against the Springboks in South Africa and the Wallabies in Australia. There’s no better time for the team to turn a corner with that than now.

“We’ve had a great week. A few milestones, the last game for a few guys who this has been their home ground for a long time so we’ve touched on that and we want to make it a special night for them,” Barrett explained when asked about the week.

“You do have to touch on (the milestones), you can draw upon that for energy and your fuel for the team.

“We have done that but we have to front up tomorrow night.”