By SENZ
English scribe Stuart Barnes caused a firestorm across the rugby landscape on Tuesday, claiming All Blacks veteran Beauden Barrett is past his prime and that he'd pick England's Marcus Smith ahead of him "any day of the week".
The Times columnist pulled no punches in his assessment of Barrett, saying he'd lost the spark that helped him to back-to-back World Rugby player of the year awards, as the English prepare to host the All Blacks at Twickenham on Sunday (NZ time).
"When you see Barrett you see a glorious past, a great rugby player," Barnes wrote. "Yet never a flyhalf that New Zealand could trust come a World Cup.
"The extraordinary pace isn’t there as it was when he scored the sealing try at Twickenham in the 2015 World Cup final."
Barnes also pointed out Barrett being overlooked for the No. 10 jersey in the knockout stages of the 2015, 2019, and 2023 World Cups.
On SENZ's Scotty & Izzy on Wednesday, host Scotty Stevenson admits Barnes has a few valid points, but Barrett - as he proved during the Bledisloe Cup - still has those trademark silky skills, suggesting some of the statements from the former English Test pivot may come back to haunt him.
"That top-end pace perhaps isn't quite what it used to be but that's natural as a player ages and as a career progresses," said Stevenson.
"But he also suggested that those details in Barrett's game, the small chips over the top, those tiny plays are missing now from Barrett's game. I think if you looked at that Australian performance from Beauden Barrett, I would argue that that's not quite correct.
"I think Barrett has still got all the tricks in the bag, but he's playing under a new system and under a new coaching staff that are looking for something slightly different from him.
"It's a brave man to write Beauden Barrett off."
Barrett will likely start at first-five against the English, where he'll be tasked with marking the mercurial Smith, who was outstanding during July's two-Test series in New Zealand.
Former All Blacks fullback Israel Dagg compared Barnes' comments to those directed towards Dan Carter prior to the 2015 World Cup, before the great first-five put on a masterclass throughout the tournament to help New Zealand to their third title.
"Don't get me wrong, when you are ageing and you get to the end of your career, you're going to lose a certain amount of speed," Dagg conceded. "But you'll never lose the mind and the ability to anticipate where the ball needs to be for your team.
"It's like a game of chess. You've always going to be three or four steps ahead of the opposition to try and plan your move. And that's where I get a lot of confidence from Beauden, knowing that he's been out there for 130-odd Test matches.
"He knows how to deal with the pressure and he knows how to play rugby a certain way."
Listen to the full 'Deep Dive' below:
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