Watch: Jordie Barrett palms off All Blacks teammate to set up long-range try for new Hurricanes halfback
They may be All Blacks teammates, but Hurricanes fullback Jordie Barrett has shown Chiefs midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown no mercy during their side's Super Rugby Aotearoa clash at Sky Stadium in Wellington.
With the Hurricanes on attack just inside their own half, the hosts spread the ball through the hands of Luke Campbell, Ngani Laumape and Ardie Savea before it found Barrett on his own 10 metre mark.
With first-five Orbyn Leger running a decoy line off Savea's pass, Lienert-Brown was caught in two minds about who to defend out of the No 10 or Barrett.
By the time he had opted to commit himself to Barrett, he was a touch too late as he wasn't able to enforce a dominant hit on the 23-test All Black.
Barrett took full advantage of Lienert-Brown's indecisiveness by palming off the 25-year-old on his weak shoulder which allowed him to pierce the Chiefs' defensive line and burst into enemy territory at top speed.
With ball in both hands, Barrett caught his opposite Damian McKenzie in two minds as the Chiefs fullback had anticipated a pass out wide to left wing Salesi Rayasi.
The pass never came, though, as Barrett boosted upfield before drawing in the tackle attempt of Chiefs first-five Kaleb Trask and firing a pass away to halfback Luke Campbell.
The rookie No 9, who was starting his first match for the Hurricanes, then outpaced McKenzie in a mad dash for the line to score his first try in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
As a result, the Hurricanes drew first blood in the match, taking a 5-0 lead after 10 minutes of action, and they have since gone into the half-time break with a healthy 26-7 lead.
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Thanks Ed.
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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