Blues head coach Leon MacDonald sang Beauden Barrett’s praises after the All Black delivered a fine performance during his team’s 54-17 victory over the Rebels in Melbourne on Saturday.
Barrett has been struggling with his form during the earlier rounds of Super Rugby Pacific and MacDonald praised the fly-half for the way he responded to ‘harsh’ criticism in the build-up to the game.
Quality player
“I thought his game was fantastic,” MacDonald told Reuters. “He’s a quality player and every player has moments where they’re not at their best in any sport.
“The sign of the champion that he is, he didn’t flinch the whole week. I thought he was fantastic in the way he led our team, drove the strategy really well and he just got on with his business.
“I thought today he kicked really well. It wasn’t easy conditions out there, it was quite greasy yet he still had the confidence to play which was really good to see as well.”
The first half in Melbourne was a tightly contested affair and the Blues did not have things going their was as the Rebels held a slender 17-13 lead at half-time.
Barrett was flying under the radar during the opening period but sprung into life after the interval and led the Auckland-based outfit’s charge as they eventually outscored their hosts by nine tries to two.
The 31-year-old will be concerned about his goal-kicking though as he missed six out of 10 shots at goal and finished with a nine-point haul courtesy of three conversions and a penalty.
Despite that, MacDonald will be happy with his team’s performance – as they have already suffered losses to the Brumbies, Crusaders and Chiefs – and the win over the Rebels means they currently occupy fifth position in the Super Rugby Pacific standings.
Put in the hard yards
“We haven’t been playing as well as we would like, so we had to turn the dial up in training and put some hard yards in just to make sure we finish this block on the right note and get the result that we needed,” he said.
“I think the guys have earned a good rest and hopefully we can come back and take some of this momentum into the second half of the season because it’s all to play for.”
READ MORE: WATCH: Beauden Barrett brilliance sees Blues score 41 unanswered points in win over Rebels
Article courtesy of
Source link
