Jordie Barrett says that there is still some hurt from the All Blacks’ Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series defeat to the Springboks and has called for further improvements.
New Zealand bounced back from their 3-1 series loss to South Africa by producing a magnificent performance against the Wallabies, romping to a 50-19 victory to defend the Bledisloe Cup.
The All Blacks outclassed Les Kiss’ side in the second half of the showdown at Eden Park after holding a 17-14 lead at half-time and Barrett believes the improved performance stemmed from Cam Roigard’s kicking game and a strong shift up front from the forwards.
Springboks series disappointment
Those were two areas of the game where the Springboks had the upper hand, particularly in the latter three Tests of the RGR series and the midfielder has called for the team to back up the performance in Auckland when they tackle the Wallabies in Sydney this weekend.
“We didn’t get where we wanted in South Africa, and we had three weeks off, we came back in on Sunday, and a few boys had some minutes, but there’s certainly a little bit of hurt there from the tour of South Africa,” Barrett told reporters on Tuesday.
“We knew what was coming, and there was a confident Australian team off the back of beating South Africa. So there’s certainly a bit of edge around in the week, and a Bledisloe Test at Eden Park brings the best out of you individually.”
On the All Blacks’ improvements in Auckland, he said: “I think our kicking game, particularly from Cam at the weekend, was really accurate. It gave us a chance to compete in the air and on the ground, and we got some good reward off that.
“The big boys did a good job up front too with some physicality, and laid a platform – need that in rugby and it allows the backs to do their job. So hopefully more of the same.”
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Personal and team improvements
Barrett has been in sublime form this year, and last, with his performance in Auckland being hailed as ‘world-class’. However, he isn’t getting too carried away and much like the team has to back up the performance at Eden Park, he was to so individually too.
“I want to back them up,” he said.
“We got another challenge here in Sydney this week against a good Australian side who have a great record, particularly in Australia at home.
“We know how tough this is going to be, and we’ve spoken about how, if we want to go to where we want to go as a team, we’ve got to put up back-to-back performances. So, hopefully we can keep our standards high.”
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The 29-year-old added that the All Blacks need to continue to grow if they are to get what they need to be ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup.
“There were areas that we need to get better at from the South African tour,” he said.
“I felt like we made a step forward in those areas, but we don’t need to stray too far from that.
“Just keep growing those parts of the game and just get better as a side. So, we’re going to need to be a consistent group if we want to go there.”