Blues, Beauden Barrett struggle as front-runners for Super Rugby Pacific title emerge – Liam Napier

Liam Napier highlights pressing talking points as Super Rugby Pacific enters the business end of the season.

Got the Blues

Are the Vern Cotter’s men in freefall?

Certainly seems that way. Successive defeats to the Crusaders and Hurricanes casts a dark cloud over the Blues’ chances this year.

It’s not the losses but their concerning nature. Against the Crusaders, the Blues – with their backs to the wall – couldn’t find a way to mount a comeback, despite enjoying a two-man advantage at the death.

Back at Eden Park the following week, they were then humbled by the Hurricanes to paint a stark contrast between the teams’ attacking variety.

The Blues appear stale and are frequently inaccurate – from their lineout to basic passing. Meet their direct physicality and they struggle to impose a Plan B.

Three head knocks in their forward pack didn’t help the Blues against the Hurricanes, but with the bye this week and the Chiefs in Hamilton to finish the regular season, they could well enter the playoffs with three straight losses.

Do-or-die finals footy is a different beast, particularly as winter conditions arrive.

Coach Vern Cotter will be steadfast that he can manufacture a game to challenge but the Blues have been patchy at best since April.

Vast improvements are swiftly required or a limp finals exit looms for many departing servants.

The contenders

How many teams can win Super Rugby Pacific this year?

Three. The Hurricanes and Chiefs have set the pace this year and can knock each other over in a one-off match.

The Crusaders confront a difficult road – needing to win at least one of their final two regular-season games against the Chiefs and the Hurricanes to guarantee their playoffs berth. And they then likely face three finals matches away from their new home that will host three straight sell-out crowds after this weekend.

With Will Jordan returning from injury to assume charge of their attack and Scott Barrett expected to add notable impact to the engine room for the finals, the defending champions can’t be written off.

A semi-final exit at best seems probable for the Blues, and I can’t see any Australian team genuinely threatening beyond week one of the playoffs.

Rusty BB gun

Should we be concerned with Beauden Barrett’s form?

Class is permanent and Barrett is operating in a team battling for rhythm, but last week’s performance against the Hurricanes sparked concerns. Conceding a charge-down try and throwing errant passes speaks to a lack of fluency.

Barrett’s running game is also notably absent.

Cotter is clearly not convinced after alternating Barrett and Stephen Perofeta in the starting No 10 role in the past two weeks.

New All Blacks boss Dave Rennie will back himself to extract the best from Barrett but the case to hand Ruben Love one start at No 10 in the All Blacks’ three July tests grows more compelling each week.

Richie Mo’unga’s homecoming will create a further squad squeeze on the playmakers in the All Blacks too.

McKenzie, Barrett, Love and Mo’unga will not be selected in the same match-day squad.

Hurricanes storm

Wellingtonians’ sneaky set moves could prove pivotal

With the most tries, clean breaks, metres gained and defenders beaten, there’s no questioning Super Rugby Pacific’s best attacking team this year.

One widely overlooked weapon this year, though, is the Hurricanes “specials” – set plays devised by the coaching staff.

Last week against the Blues offered the latest example as the Hurricanes swept the blindside from a maul and halfback Ereatara Enari sent Kini Naholo over with a perfectly executed inside ball. Such a move doesn’t happen by chance.

“There’s a lot of work that went into it,” Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw said. “It didn’t look like that at the start of the week. Bryn [Evans] and [Brad] Cooper, who do all our set piece attack, tweaked it on Tuesday with a little inside ball to the winger. There’s a lot of preparation, thought, analysis.

“You can have a bit of chaos theory in your game, where you do a couple of different things to keep the opposition off you, because then you get two more tries. It’s not a coincidence when you score a couple of special tries off a lineout then they’re looking for that and you can hit them with a maul. I’m really enjoying the work the coaches are doing setting those up.”

Evans, in his one season with the national team, brought similar trickery to the All Blacks’ lineout before returning to the Hurricanes.

Joe Schmidt is notorious for poring over footage to exploit opposition weaknesses through special plays. In tight, tense playoff games, these creative set moves could be the Hurricanes’ secret weapon.

The wing dilemma

Position vacant: All Blacks right wing wanted

Caleb Tangitau’s unfortunate season-ending injury throws open the contest for the All Blacks right wing berth.

Dave Rennie is not short on finishing options but Tangitau’s irrepressible form marked him as a lock for the first All Blacks squad of the year.

Tangitau should’ve been included in the All Blacks over Sevu Reece for last year’s northern tour. His out-and-out pace (as former All Blacks first five-eighths and selector Earle Kirton would say: he’s got gas) could be a lethal weapon on the test scene.

Tangitau won’t be sighted again this year, though, after rupturing his Achilles in Hamilton last weekend for the Highlanders.

Caleb Clarke is a certainty for the All Blacks left wing but the right-edge spot is up for grabs.

Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, Emoni Narawa, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Leroy Carter, Fehi Fineanganofo and Chay Fihaki are all in contention.

Carter’s workrate will appeal to Rennie, but he and Narawa will be desperate to return from injury to push their respective cases in the playoffs for the Chiefs.

Ioane, at the business end of his sabbatical stint with Leinster, has started on the wing for the heavyweight Irish club in the European Champions Cup but, like Fainga’anuku, he is more suited to the left edge, to leave him chasing Clarke.

Jordan has conjured some of his best rugby for the All Blacks from the wing – and Rennie has the option of shifting Damian McKenzie, Beauden Barrett or Ruben Love to fullback.

McKenzie played his best rugby for the All Blacks from fullback last year.

Fineanganofo is the form favourite, having equalled Super Rugby’s single season try-scoring record with his 16th strike last weekend. He will, ideally, find a way to wriggle out of his two-year deal to join English club Newcastle. Regardless of Fineanganofo’s future status, Rennie could select him in July.

Wing proved a problematic position for the All Blacks last year, with their stuttering attack unable to unlock finishing potency and issues under the high ball consistently exposed, circling this area as a target for immediate improvement.

Tangitau’s serious setback is a blow. He deserves his crack at the next level.

As Super Rugby Pacific builds to a climax in the coming weeks, the race for the All Blacks right wing could now be a three-way shootout between Carter, Narawa and Fineanganofo, with Jordan already locked in the squad and offering valuable versatility.

Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.