Former All Blacks head coach Sir Steve Hansen believes the emergence of Jordie Barrett as New Zealand’s inside center is the biggest benefit of 2022.
It’s been a turbulent year for the All Blacks in 2022, suffering a series loss to Ireland in July before suffering a first loss in New Zealand to Argentina. The All Blacks successfully defended their Rugby League title, but their performance so far almost cost Foster his job. Following the loss to Argentina, Foster’s men enjoyed a six-game winning streak, but ended the year with a 25-game draw against England.
First choice center
While Jordie Barrett racked up a considerable amount of minutes at inside center for the Hurricanes in 2022, Foster continued to select him as a fullback for New Zealand at the start of the international season.
An injury to David Havilli finally allowed Barrett to start in the center role in the black shirt when he started in midfield with Rieko Ioane against Australia in their final Rugby League match.
He produced a magnificent performance in the role and would earn two more starts in jumper number 12.
Hansen believes Barrett’s his performance in this position should make him the first-choice inside center in 2023.
“The biggest positive of 2022 was Jordie Barrett in the second five-eighth,” Hansen said to D’Arcy Waldegrave on Newstalk ZB.
“He’s the man we’ve been looking for for a while for this position. He’s tall; he’s strong; he’s quick. He has a great passing game. A wonderful ball kicker. Defensively he likes to come in among them and do the heavy lifting and has the size to do it for you.
“He’s a great communicator, and both 10s, whoever is playing, are going to benefit when they have a good 12 outside of them who is ready to communicate.
“He’s also a player that if nothing happens you can just give it to Jordie, and he’ll carry it around, like back in the days with Ma’a. [Nonu] and Sonny [Bill Williams] sometimes. He also gives us that option, because he is such a great athlete.
turn the boat
Commenting on the All Blacks coaching changes in 2022, Hansen says tough decisions were made which turned the ship around for the sidethe team ending the year positively.
“These are tough decisions that had to be made but were made by Ian, and the ship has turned and I think they go into the World Cup with quite a bit of excitement,” he said. declared.
“They ended the year quite positively. Other than 10 minutes against England, they really dominated that game. It all started earlier in the year against Ireland. I think people underestimated at how good they were. We didn’t play the way we wanted to.
Adversity
Hansen believes the All Blacks’ challenges in 2022 will make them hungrier this year and that key lessons will have been learned ahead of the World Cup.
“What they encountered, and for this group it’s probably the first time, is a bit of adversity. And that adversity makes you hungrier, it makes you look at the mirror a lot harder and you start having these awkward conversations that you normally don’t want to have and you can get away with not having them because you’re winning,” he said. -he declares. said.
“But when things go the way they did, they had to take it all apart and have some really uncomfortable conversations. We have seen the changes that have come out of those conversations. We also saw the players take ownership and the coaching group take ownership.
“I think they will be quietly satisfied. You’re never happy when you’re in the All Blacks, but they’ll be happy to have made the progress they need to get into that next block and then the World Cup.
READ MORE: Sunday social: New Year celebrations, retirements and memorable tackles
#Blacks #Steve #Hansen #reveals #biggest #positive