All Blacks star has changed his game to suit rugby's shift to physicality - it's a credit to him and a boost for NZ

I want to commend the Blues, and Beauden Barrett in particular, on a job well done. It’s not something I’m usually in the habit of, but I’ll make an exception here.

It almost goes without saying that you shouldn’t have to praise people for doing something for which they’re handsomely paid. But, such is the infrequency with which players justify their salaries, you are sometimes compelled to compliment them when they do.

The result of the weekend’s clash between the Blues and Hurricanes clearly mattered to Barrett. There’s times when you feel as if his primary motivation in a match is to avoid contact, but he willingly sought it on Saturday.

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Yes, he kicked well, which I’ll return to in a minute, but he also attacked breakdowns and tackled with intent.

Barrett’s made his money from being good with ball in hand, but it was what he did out of possession that impressed me most.

For as long as he wants to play like that – and Richie Mo’unga remains ineligible for a Test recall – Barrett is the best first five-eighth option New Zealand has.

The quality of his kicking was excellent, both from hand and at goal, but it was the tactical acumen that really stood out.

Barrett discerned, either by himself or through advice from the coaching box, the best way to beat the Hurricanes and he executed that plan perfectly.

He didn’t call elaborate backline moves or shift the ball for the sake of it, preferring to kick the ball to the Hurricanes and back the Blues’ defence.

I distinctly remember a long break in play, just after the 63-minute mark. I don’t watch games with the sound on, so I don’t know what the stoppage was for.

But I do know that the camera panned to Blues centre Rieko Ioane and that it was the first moment I realised he was on the park.

Move on from Bend it like Beckham. We now bend it like Barrett ????

This is a true genius moment from the veteran Beauden Barrett in his latest Rugby Masterclass vs Hurricanes.

33 years old and still plays like a 20 year old.

So Kids,Skills never go away and the class is… pic.twitter.com/FCVLv4LgfE — Chalyn.Rugby (@ChalynRugby) April 5, 2025

The Blues’ backs chased kicks and they tackled and that was about it.

Now, that’s not the kind of footy that immediately comes to mind when you’re thinking about Super Rugby.

Many of us would be visualising offloads and sweeping passing movements. We’d cast our minds back to Christian Cullen and Jonah Lomu and Joeli Vidiri and some of the champagne rugby that’s punctuated the competition’s history.

The only excitement at Eden Park on Saturday was when a defender won a turnover at the breakdown and I didn’t mind that one bit.

I’ve routinely described the football played in Super Rugby as frivolous. The kind of footy that suits someone like Damian McKenzie down to the ground.

He can run round in circles, hypnotise a defender or two and then burst into the backfield without a hand laid on him. It’s the kind of stuff that belongs in the highlight reels, alongside Cullen, Lomu and Vidiri, but it doesn’t win you much.

Arrogantly or not, All Black teams of recent decades have often adopted the view that they were playing rugby the ‘right’ way.

You might have to resort to 10-man rugby, but we’re far too talented to lower ourselves to that. We’ll run and pass you into oblivion, no matter how haphazard the results.

The great All Blacks teams have consistently won using that method. The others, such as those coached by Ian Foster and now Scott Robertson, have not. Or at least not the Robertson-coached team that began the 2024 season.

By that year’s end, though, with Barrett ensconced at No.10, the All Blacks were playing the kind of footy that the Blues rolled out on Saturday.

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It was the Hurricanes who – despite boasting a backline far inferior to those who’ve gone down in the folklore of that franchise – wanted to use the football. In doing so, they invariably shuffled the ball onto a bloke in a worse position than themselves.

The Hurricanes could – and probably should – have still beaten the Blues. Unfortunately there’s no points for artistic interpretation.

You can try and play rugby the ‘right’ way, but they don’t award trophies for moral victories.

The Blues won on Saturday because the guy playing at first-five for them dictated the match.

And, again, I want to stress this was Barrett showing he’s learnt to play against type. For so long, he was at his best running the football. He saw things others couldn’t and either found a gap for himself or put a teammate through it and then backed up to score under the posts.

His speed and uncanny ability to predict the bounce of the ball saw him sometimes win games single-handedly.

But rugby, especially of the Test variety, doesn’t require that skillset at the moment. It’s an attritional game, where field position and physicality are more likely to prevail.

Barrett’s ability to adapt to that is both a credit to him and a promising sign for the All Blacks.

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