{"id":627349,"date":"2026-10-11T13:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627349\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:22:09","slug":"jordie-barrett-wouldnt-look-out-of-place-in-the-back-row-as-dave-rennie-claims-all-blacks-star-has-taken-his-game-to-another-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627349\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordie Barrett ‘wouldn’t look out of place’ in the back-row as Dave Rennie claims All Blacks star has ‘taken his game to another level’"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and captain Codie Taylor have hailed the talents of Jordie Barrett, who continues to shine at Test level.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old once again impressed as New Zealand hammered the Wallabies 50-19 at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Barrett<\/a> was critical in helping his side retain the Bledisloe Cup for another year with the inside centre influential in both attack and defence.<\/p>\n

Barrett\u2019s defensive excellence<\/p>\n

He was particularly excellent without the ball, putting in a number of thunderous tackles which sent Australians<\/a> into reverse.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes man was always an outstanding player but he seems to have elevated his game since returning from a six-month stint with Leinster last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been phenomenal all year. He was outstanding in South Africa, I just think he\u2019s taken his game to another level,\u201d Rennie<\/a> told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the skill set but he\u2019s got a massive engine. His physicality, his defence, I thought he was excellent again.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a little bit of a haematoma, we weren\u2019t sure how long he would last after half-time but he was able to run that off and it was nice to sub him with about 10 to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks v Wallabies: Five takeaways as disciplined New Zealand run riot at Eden Park and Les Kiss suffers first defeat<\/a><\/p>\n

Barrett\u2019s contributions haven\u2019t gone unnoticed by his team-mates with Taylor also hailing what he brings to the side.<\/p>\n

While he is a tremendously skilful individual, the All Blacks<\/a> skipper particularly appreciates his physicality as he almost acts as an extra forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could probably have a six, seven or eight on his back and he wouldn\u2019t look out of place. He\u2019s one of those men who\u2019s physical,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe of late hasn\u2019t been saying too much but his actions on the field are world-class, he\u2019s definitely earned the right to be called one of the best 12s, if not the best 12, in the world at the moment, not just through his attack but his brutality.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that he does, he\u2019s physical, which is what you want to see as a forward when your 12 is prepared to throw his body into everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verdict on Damian McKenzie<\/p>\n

Having Barrett at 12 certainly helped Damian McKenzie, who was standing in at fly-half after injuries to Richie Mo\u2019unga and Ruben Love.<\/p>\n

McKenzie had played all seven Tests at full-back in 2026, but he repaid Rennie\u2019s faith by putting in a stellar showing in the 10 shirt on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a good player isn\u2019t he? As I mentioned earlier in the week, we\u2019ve lost Ruben and Richie but we\u2019ve got the two guys who mostly played 10 last year, or the last few years, so we\u2019re fortunate we\u2019ve got really good depth there,\u201d the All Blacks boss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Damian and Baz (Beauden Barrett) were really strong tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All Blacks player ratings: Damian McKenzie produces \u2018statement display\u2019 as playmaking duo \u2018key\u2019 to dominant performance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and captain Codie Taylor have hailed the talents of Jordie Barrett, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,169306,1463,1464,76561,111,43,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-627349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-australia","tag-dave-rennie","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-jordie-barrett","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}