The New Zealand Generals - Smith & Barrett

Two rounds into the Rugby Championship and New Zealand are cruising, they look untouchable. Australia being blown away with comparative ease, while South Africa and Argentina battled out two tight matches. There are so many reasons why New Zealand are a league above everyone else: 2-4-2 system; their backrow; their set piece; their decision making; ball handling; kick chase. We could write a post for all of them, but we won't. Instead we're going to discuss their two half-backs: Aaron Smith at 9 and Beauden Barrett at outside-half.

Has Carter been
 succesfully replaced?

Barrett has only recently achieved a firm grip on this 10 jersey but he genuinely looks like he has been in the role for years. For the last few years Barrett has be provided the "super-sub" tag, with his pace; eye for a gap; and try scoring ability allowing New Zealand to pull away with 20 minutes remaining. But people claimed he would remain in the #22 jersey because he lack of ability to control a game meant the likes of Aaron Cruden would replace the legend that is Dan Carter.

Aaron Smith on the other hand has been regarded as the best scrum half in the world for the last few years. He simply makes everything on the rugby pitch look easy, links with forwards and backs, and commands the breakdown with brilliance I haven't seen in the modern era. With Kieran Read at No. 8, Smith has been the focal point which the All Blacks have rebuilt around after the mass retirement at the World Cup.

Across both fixtures Smith & Barrett have been the catalyst for New Zealand's victories. There have been three main areas which have set them apart from their Trans-Tazmanian counter parts - and the rest of the world for that matter.

Playing with Width

During the rout in Sydney Beaudan Barrett was at the fore-front. It started with his position at the breakdown, whether it was a coaching decision or Barrett's preference is irrelevant. Barrett would be standing nearing 20m from the breakdown more often than not, giving the All Blacks immediate width to play with. Utilising the 2-4-2 method (discussed here) to it's full extent, he would be shielded by a pod of three forwards, another outside him. With the range of pass Aaron Smith possesses - far too often we've seen him throw a 30-40m pass to take three defenders out of the equation - Barrett's width was of no stress. The half-backs are presented with a range of options with this set up:

1. Smith hit's Barrett, using the forwards as decoys to hold the defence.
2. Smith hit's the forward pod and they set up a quick ruck recycle.
3. Smith passes to the forwards, who then shift it on to Barrett even wider than he was.

There are even more than this too. The large array of options would be considered a complex system for many, requiring vast communication between the forwards, scrum-half and fly-half to figure out what will happen. Instead through considerable training and the raw ball handling skill set of the All Black players means everything happens with total fluidity. Smith and Barrett can trust the forwards to make the decisions so they can talk to each other about where the next phase will take place. The speed of thought and ability to back up the decision with sublime execution puts these two above their competitors.

Aaron Smith has got an exceptional pass on him, making miss passes look effortless.

Knowledge of the Game

With Barrett providing the width, and the pace to attack out wide, Smith provides the game intelligence - something that Barrett is learning quickly. All good scrum halves are thinking about the next breakdown as they get the ball away from the current one. Smith seems to take this to another level entirely. He seems to know where the next three breakdowns will take place, or more precisely the various places they could occur, New Zealand like being able to attack both sides of the breakdown, Smith knows how both attacks will play out. He can see the plot out of the opposition defence, at least once against Australia he attacked back to the blindside without even looking. He just knew that Australia had been pulled across and that he had the required players to attack. I can't begin to understand how he manages this, is it natural gift or years on the training park? Either way he is genuinely the biggest contender for World Player of the Year.

Barrett again plays a part here, linking back to his width. On the numerous occassions which the Kiwi's had a ruck roughly 20m infield, Barrett's width to the open side dragged additional players to his side. Allowing players like Ben Smith and Israel Dagg to attack the blind side. Barrett understands that he is not the star of the show when he starts, he doesn't have to produce magic all the time. Trusting the tiny general inside him to decide the best direction to attack in, Barrett is at liberty to figure out the best way to unleash his backline in the open spaces. Playing perfectly into his strengths of fast paced front foot rugby. It is almost a role reversal from when Carter was at 10, where he used his vast experience and intelligence to direct the troops, while Smith probed around the fringes and looked to make things happen.

Smith has adapted well to his new role, and that shows just how good a player he is, that he has adapted to this new role in less than a year, and is excelling. Simple class.

Precision kicking at the right times

Lastly the final area I have noticed about Smith & Barrett's play is their kicking game. Aaron Smith's has always been one of the best in terms of his box kicks. Excellent at getting perfect height and depth to allow his wingers to chase and compete when looking to reclaim the ball. He also is exceptional at clearing the ball at taking the pressure of his fly-half in the 22. Barrett's kicking masterclass is much more recent, even just last year he was prone to buckling under the pressure. His kicking during the 2015 Super Rugby final was sub-par, one year later and it was the primary reason for the Hurricane's playoff success. During the end of the season the Hurricanes went 5 hours of rugby without conceding a try, and only conceded a total of 12 points across the playoffs. In a league where defence is a secondary thought, and games are won by scoring tries, those are ridiculous statistics. And they stemmed from Barrett's precision kicking out of hand. He shifted the opposition back three all over the place with, using the weather conditions with aplomb to skid the ball into

Barrett's kicking has become
masterful.

touch. Excellent kicks to chase and put pressure on, able to chase and recover little chips over the top to turn the defence, and slid kicks in behind to create tries. This is all without mentioning his massive improvement in goal kicking which is now Test standard with an average of 80% consistently, which was always the biggest thing New Zealand were going to miss with the loss of Carter.

Barrett now has the complete repertoire when it comes to kicking, and his decision making as to when to use them is as good as any other international fly-half, if not one of the best. He is still prone to odd risky play, but the number is coming down quickly. Even the great Carter made mistakes early on in his career, Barrett is on course to be the next long term fly-half.

Together Smith and Barrett are forming an exceptional partnership, they're already showing signs of knowing each other's games inside out. Individually they are both exceptional players that can win games by themselves, together they form a nigh unbeatable pivot which New Zealand can build their team around for the 2019 World Cup. Add in Kieran Reed at No. 8 and the skillful Sonny Bill Williams at 12 and you've already got an exceptional core to their title defence. Everyone is going to have to work hard to catch the All Black's new AB (Aaron & Beauden) duo.