Ex-All Black hails ‘unreal’ Scott Barrett after taking ‘heat publicly’ for his form but is ‘peaking at the right time’
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett and an inset of James Parsons
Scott Barrett’s end-of-season form has been hailed by former All Blacks and Blues hooker James Parsons.
The All Blacks skipper admitted earlier in the Super Rugby Pacific season that he wasn’t where he wanted to be with regards to his form.
“I hold myself to a high standard and potentially some of the performances early in the year haven’t been where I’d like,” Barrett said in response to criticisms of his form back in April.
“It’s the media’s job to create interest and I’ve got opinions on performances and possibly those opinions have been not far off the mark.
“Having reflected upon that [last week], I’m looking forward to bounce this week.”
Scott Barrett’s form
Barrett has certainly bounced back since playing a pivotal role in the Crusaders’ charge to the Super Rugby Pacific final, where they will tackle the Chiefs, and Parsons praised him for his improved performances.
“The All Blacks skipper is playing unreal footie,” he said on the Aotearoa Rugby Podcast.
“It’s going a bit under the radar but you go back to the Brumbies, 80th minute turnover tackle, massive against the Reds and he was huge against the Blues.
“Like big moments tactically, but big moments physically, he is just peaking at the right time and I think it’s worth noting because he took a little bit of heat publicly at the beginning of the year.”
While David Havili is the Crusaders‘ captain, Parsons believes that Barrett is still performing a leadership role for Rob Penney’s charges.
“It’s not always going to be highlight reel stuff but what he has been doing and the platform he’s setting, the way he’s leading… I know he doesn’t have the captain’s armband but he’s certainly doing it for that forward pack as the key cog or the key man,” he continued.
“Like Will Jordan, it’s follow me, I’ll show the way, I’m not going to talk about it, I’m just going to do it and he’s doing it so well.”
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Luke Jacobson’s influence
Former Crusaders half-back Bryn Hall agreed with Parsons but also pointed to the impact that Luke Jacobson has had on the Chiefs.
Clayton McMillan’s side fell to a narrow defeat to the Blues in the Qualifying Final without the services of their captain but, upon his return in the semi-final, the Chiefs defeated the Brumbies to progress to the title decider.
“I think on the other side of the ball with the Chiefs, Luke Jacobson is just so big for them and you could probably tell last week with him not being there how much they missed him,” Hall said.
“His defensive pressure and how he cleans the ruck on the attacking side of the ball, he’s always dominant in those collision areas and he had some big turnovers on the weekend, especially in that second half.
“The Chiefs had five turnovers in that second half, which led to them being able to suffocate and score points but very similar to a Scott Barrett in galvanising that group with all that stuff that he does, all the dirty work.
“Jacobson does that massively for that group, along with Tupou Vaa’i. That Vaa’i-Barrett matchup in itself is worth the price of admission because those boys are massive for those groups.”
