Retired All Black Ant Strachan has saluted Beauden Barrett\u2019s recent renaissance and chosen his most consistent loose forward in Dave Rennie\u2019s pack.<\/p>\n
New Zealand closed out the latest Bledisloe Cup series with a 2-0 victory over the Wallabies on Saturday, winning 43-21 in Sydney after a 50-19 success in last weekend\u2019s opener in Auckland.<\/p>\n
The triumph has allowed Rennie\u2019s team to move on from their 3-1 loss to the Springboks in the Greatest Rivalry series, a setback that sparked fears over whether the 62-year-old was the right coach to succeed the sacked Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n
However, New Zealand\u2019s new boss absorbed the lessons dished out in South Africa and the United States of America, and they are now looking ahead to November\u2019s conclusion to the Nations Championship with a revived pep in their step following their impressive back-to-back victories over the Wallabies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis transition\u2019s been sensational\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Having lost Richie Mo\u2019unga to injury for the series following his Test comeback in the Baltimore loss against the Springboks, Rennie opted to switch Damian Mckenzie from full-back to out-half and recalled Barrett to No.15.<\/p>\n
It was a tactic that worked out swimmingly across the last two Saturdays and it left Strachan, a 1995 Rugby World Cup finalist, singing the praises of the pair of 30-somethings, especially Barrett as there was concern that his Test-level career had petered out and was over.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmazingly with Damian McKenzie coming from full-back to 10, his transition\u2019s been sensational. And Beauden Barrett, it\u2019s probably a good chance just to mention him,\u201d enthused Strachan on DSPN Rugby<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was kicked in the guts and we were all talking about the game\u2019s gone past him, me included. He\u2019s gone away and gone, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ve got some more in me, but when I come back into the mix, what am I going to actually bring? I\u2019m going to have to step up. I\u2019m going to have to deliver everything they need from a full-back and all my experience to use that\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he\u2019s done that in these last two Test matches. That\u2019s wonderful because as you get knocked down, we want to see these All Blacks get up and Beaduen Barrett has been very, very good.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the great things is he has packaged up all the experience has gone, okay, what do you want from your full-back? Ultimately, you got to be a good defensive full-back in the back field, catching balls, kicking back and also making those critical tackles when you need to, so he\u2019s done that.<\/p>\n Ex-All Black\u2019s \u2018jealousy\u2019 of Dave Rennie\u2019s players, the \u2018very polarising\u2019 Damian McKenzie and the Wallaby he\u2019d love to switch sides<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re also now a really critical member of your attacking script or your strategy and he is now popping up \u2013 he is multi-multifaceted. We know that he has speed, you\u2019re born with that and he\u2019s still got it even though he\u2019s a bit older.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he gets himself into positions now where he makes critical decisions with football pre and post (contact) and then he can expose defences that are clocking off and getting to those weak shoulders, so his attacking prowess is still one of the best in world and he just really likes the way Rennie and (assistant Mike) Blair have built this attack.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not perfect yet, but it\u2019s getting to it because we want high level, high tempo fluidity and continuity and we\u2019re starting to see that and he\u2019s integral to that. How many errors has he made also? I don\u2019t want to talk pessimistically about things, but he\u2019s made minimal errors in two Tests after not playing much rugby for about nine or 10 Tests.\u201d<\/p>\n With Ardie Savea injured in the third Greatest Rivalry<\/a> series Test match in Soweto and out of action until 2027, the All Black started the tour finale in Baltimore with a back row consisting of Tupou Vai\u2019i and Ethan Blackadder at flanker and Peter Lakai at No.8.<\/p>\n With Blackadder then picking up an injury, the starting back row for the Bledisloe Cup series against the Wallabies<\/a> became Vai\u2019i at six, Lakai at seven and Wallace Sititi included at eight. The trio gelled well and it prompted a question to Strachan regarding what happens to the selection when Savea comes back fit next year.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n \u201cPeter Lakai has been the most consistent<\/a> of our loose forwards to date and what he brings is multifaceted as well,\u201d enthused the former All Black half-back. \u201cHis speed to ball, over ball, decision making, he can play on an edge, he can play through the middle, his defence has improved a lot, tackle accuracy superb and he gets those post-contact metres and he\u2019s not massive, so he has to use his footwork to get to there.<\/p>\n \u201cLoose forward trios have to complement, and you mention about if one guy\u2019s a bit smaller, the other two should probably have a bit more size about them. Well, Tupou Vai\u2019i, I know there was some question marks when he was playing in South Africa<\/a> on an edge and how they kind of worked him out, but he\u2019s gone away and worked on that.<\/p>\n \u201cHe brings the size we talk about, the lineout option as well and he certainly complements the other two. Sititi\u2019s the third. We had real question marks over the way he came back but just remember, he got belted in that game, that Super game where he got knocked out really badly.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a neurologist but those things take time before you can feel confident to get back in the mix and loose forwards have got to roll their sleeves up and hit the dark spaces but Wallace Sititi has just flicked his game to another level.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he is explosive, he finds space, he puts defence under pressure where the other two loose forwards can feed off and or they can play their role which is slightly different in amongst where they\u2019re going to sit with the backs.<\/p>\n How New Zealand\u2019s media reacted to the All Blacks\u2019 win over Wallabies as Dave Rennie\u2019s \u2018vision\u2019 falls into place and high praise for veteran trio<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cCollectively they are very good defensively. Collectively, we are seeing some really, really good footwork and go forward offensively and they do complement. The lineout\u2019s pretty well covered. They can throw Lakai up obviously. They can throw Sititi up and they do and Tupou Vai\u2019i can also jump middle, back.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to work on our lineout but that three are lineout exponents as well and also high energy, all three of them operate with really high energy. Are they sorted? Are they playing at their best collectively?<\/p>\n \u201cNo. They got work to do, but I like the way they have evolved as a trio, particularly when we were talking about Tupou Vai\u2019i not really being part of that loose forward trio when he came back from South Africa. So, it has good that he\u2019s responded in the way he has.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking generally about the All Blacks<\/a>, Strachan explained what he overall liked best about Rennie\u2019s team in Sydney. \u201cWe have to still look at those areas of the game that we want to try and perfect, so set-piece has been pretty good.<\/p>\n \u201cScrum, particularly last two Test matches, have been really effective; we have dominated in that space. Our lineout is still a little bit ropey at times and there\u2019s a number of factors because you have different variations at lineout time.<\/p>\n