'Smacked us on the face': Beauden Barrett on the All Blacks loss and Wellington hoodoo
All Blacks fullback Beauden Barrett has offered his assessment on the 38-30 loss to Argentina that extended the All Blacks disappointing run at Sky Stadium in Wellington.
Los Pumas registered their highest ever score against the All Blacks for their third ever win, and second on New Zealand soil, to hand Scott Robertson his first loss as coach of the All Blacks.
Beauden Barrett highlighted the kicking game as a problem area as the team struggled to exit well and clear the lines.
"I think in our own half, we weren't clinical at all. It was disappointing. We struggled to clear our 22 kickoff receipts. You know, we just struggled to to apply pressure from those," Barrett said.
"So that'll be a focal point, no doubt, going into next week. And obviously, discipline, we can't afford to give away as many penalties to any team. So, yeah, super frustrating and disappointing at the same time.
"We expected a stop, start test. We focused and knew that we had to be squeaky clean around discipline, so everything we spoke about, yeah, probably smacked us on the face at times. We didn't deal with it as well as we would have liked to."
As a long-time Hurricane from 2011-2019, Barrett is very familiar with Sky Stadium having won plenty of games over his career including a Super Rugby title.
But the ground has not been happy hunting ground for the All Blacks who have developed a hoodoo at the stadium, last winning there in 2018 over France.
They have lost or drawn eight fixtures over the six years since.
On Wellington hoodoo, Barrett called it an "inconvenient fact" but said there is another game this year against the Wallabies.
"It's an inconvenient fact. We get an opportunity again this year here, so we'll look to turn that around," Barrett said.
On what the Pumas did really well, Barrett said that the All Blacks were thrown off their own game too much.
He said it was "as simple" as being better at their own game in order to turn things around.
"They're a physical team, and if they manage to play the clock and force penalties, put pressure on at set piece, it turns into a real arm wrestle," he said.
"They kick their goals, and all of a sudden you've got a tough, tough night at the office.
"They're on emotional side, if that's fed, they're always tough. So we've just got to be better on our own game. It's as simple as that. We'll look at ourselves hard in the mirror, and next week's another opportunity. So if it really hurts, it'll hurt for a while."
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Robertson should have been a bit more experimental, preparing for the trip up North. Cane should been rested to allow for the Savea (7) and Sititi (8) pairing to be given a run because they appear to be the new way forward. Six is far from settled on with Blackadder only a temporary fix as like his other loosies he is either too short, too light or too slow, and so his best role is cover. ALB,Proctor or both should have been given a run as Australia's midfield is an ever changing experiment and then Reiko could have been put back on the left wing with Telea on the right. Will Jordan could then come on later to fullback or wing.
Go to commentsAgreed for the most part. And perhaps Dmac needed a period were he is the 'Hobson's choice' too.
Yes and no, they main concern I had from the situation is Razor didn't really explain why they had developed differing opinions, had he? I've seen too many things happen in life to jump the gun. Fall all we know it was a locked in choice before they found the difference last year and played out this year to see if they were recoverable. I can certainly see where it would be a valid criticism to suggest he spent too much time reviewing his players tripping overseas and not enough work with his team at that time. But things like Tony Brown not even being contacted in the lead up to the naming of the squad are endemic in the union, and for much just as much blame should be laid on someone like Wayne Smith. Some like Mitch would have been aval at the same time too I'd think.
Ultimately I see MacDs time at the Blues much as I saw Ian Fosters time at the Chiefs. Heavily overshadowed by their successors but you could find something good in there if you wanted. Same here. This will play out.
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