Scott Barrett says the All Blacks have challenged themselves to finish the Rugby Championship strongly and celebrate former skipper Sam Cane’s 100th Test appropriately with a complete performance against Australia.
After a light training run at Wellington’s Sky Stadium in bright sunshine – conditions that will bear no resemblance to tomorrow night’s – Barrett, named as captain this year by new head coach Scott Robertson, said his side had used a couple of milestones as motivation.
It will be Cane’s 100th Test and final appearance at home before he heads to Japan on a long-term contract, although he will almost certainly feature on the November tour. The same applies to veteran halfback TJ Perenara, who is also departing at the end of the year.
“He’s got a huge amout of respect and mana within the group,” Barrett said of Cane.
“He challenges the group when needed and he’s been great to bounce things off. He challenges me at times as well. He’s hugely valuable to this group and this team wants to go out and put in a performance that does him justice on his 100.”
Asked whether Cane’s presence in the pack was awkward given his previous role as the team’s captain, Barrett said: “It’s a collaborative approach… he’s adding valuable insight and certainly leads with actions.”
He said the team would draw “energy and fuel” from the milestones after uneven performances during the competition.
The All Blacks have won two Tests and lost three in the Rugby Championship, and, while they wrapped up the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney last weekend, that Test was also marked by inconsistency - especially in the second half.
“We have to front up tomorrow night,” he said. “We want to finish strong. We’ve started games well but… particularly that last quarter, it has let us down. It’s not a small fix, it’s a gradual one with habits coming in.
“We don’t want to fall into the trap of believing that the Australians aren’t going to challenge us tomorrow night. We’ve given them the respect with our preparation. We have to front up.”
The All Blacks have also given up five yellow cards in the championship. Head coach Robertson said during the week that teams on average this year coughed up six points when shown a yellow – a reminder how damaging they can be, especially when the All Blacks’ losing margins in their three Test defeats have been by eight points or fewer.
“It’s about accuracy, really,” Barrett said. “A lot of them come when you’re defending, so if you can hold the ball, you’re more in control. You’re taking the referee out of it with [his] decision making.”
Not surprisingly, the All Blacks’ dire record at the Cake Tin – they have not won in five Tests dating back to 2018 - had also been addressed.
“The last time we were here we were against Argentina and we couldn’t get out of our own half,” he said of the shock 38-30 defeat last month. “That was a huge problem in that game and we were slow to adapt.
“We feel we haven’t had a complete performance yet so we’re looking to do that tomorrow night.”
Asked about whether his brother was happy about playing his first Test at No.10 in several years, Barrett said: “Beaudy’s had a good hop in his step this week. He’s excited about it.”
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