All Blacks Confident Of Unprecedented Third Straight World Cup Triumph
5th September 2019
The genesis of the decision lies in the British and Irish Lions tour of 2017, when the visitors employed a rush defence to put the New Zealand backs under pressure
- The All Blacks are confident they can win an unprecedented third straight Rugby World Cup in Japan, even if they have to shift one of the team's star players from his favoured position to do it
- No one in the current New Zealand squad can match the individual accolades heaped upon Beauden Barrett, a two-time World Rugby player of the year
- His prowess in the number 10 jersey was the reason the Auckland Blues broke the bank to lure him away from Wellington Hurricanes for the 2020 Super Rugby season
WELLINGTON, New
Zealand- The All Blacks are confident they can win an unprecedented third
straight Rugby World Cup in Japan, even if they have to shift one of the team's
star players from his favoured position to do it.
No one in the current New Zealand squad can match the
individual accolades heaped upon Beauden Barrett, a two-time World Rugby player
of the year.
Barrett, 28, earned his awards for excelling at fly-half,
coordinating the All Blacks in attack and splitting opposition defences with
his deft kicking.
His prowess in the number 10 jersey was the reason the
Auckland Blues broke the bank to lure him away from Wellington Hurricanes for
the 2020 Super Rugby season.
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However, the All Blacks believe the key to winning their
third consecutive World Cup, and fourth overall, is moving Barrett to full-back
and handing fly-half duties to Richie Mo'unga, long seen as his understudy.
The genesis of the decision lies in the British and Irish
Lions tour of 2017, when the visitors employed a rush defence to put the New
Zealand backs under pressure.
It left Barrett at times looking rattled and forced
uncharacteristic errors as the series ended in a draw.
Since then, other opponents have adopted the same strategy
and coach Steve Hansen acknowledged ahead of this year's Rugby Championship
that it was an issue for the world champions.
"Hopefully we can show some big improvement in the
decision-making under line speed, which is an area of the game that we believe
everyone is going to chuck at us," he said.
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"The better we get at it the better result we're going
to get for ourselves."
Hansen's plan to counter a rush defence was to field dual
playmakers -- one at fly-half and the other at full-back -- providing extra
attacking options.
Barrett initially stayed as pivot, with Damien McKenzie at
fullback.
The experiment produced mixed results in late 2018 before it
was abruptly halted when McKenzie blew a cruciate ligament, ruling him out of
the World Cup.