The Hurricanes moved into second place in the Super Rugby table with a convincing 41-22 win over the Stormers on Friday morning, and All Blacks out-half Beauden Barrett put on a kicking clinic.
Late tries from Ngani Laumape and Beauden Barrett himself (he scored two of the Hurricanes' seven tries) made the scoreline look more comfortable than it was, but it was the world class #10 who dominated discussion after the game.
Barrett created tries with his trademark crosskick on no fewer than four occasions, the most impressive of which was an audacious attempt just 10 yards out from his own try-line... With his team defending a five point lead in the 73rd minute!
The pinpoint accuracy of his kicking game was on full show, and since the highlights have emerged via All Blacks' YouTube channel we can all enjoy his outstanding performance.
(If you don't have three minutes to spare skip to 2:15 to see the stunning Laumapea try)
Frightening.
Total control, it's remarkable to watch. It's going to be a tough task for the Lions to shackle him over the summer, but Johnny Sexton has already bested Barrett once, so here's hoping he can do so again.
Speaking after the game, Hurricanes scrum-half and captain TJ Perenara explained [via Stuff.co.nz] that Barrett kicked so often due to the way the Stormers had set up to defend them.
The way they were defending, they shut down us running short. They had a guy in the backfield on the other side of the field to stop our kicking game, so our only real option outside of a crossfield kick was kicking it out 20 metres and that's what they wanted.
Also remarkable was Jordie Barrett's incredible try where he ripped the ball from Stormers number eight Nizaam Carr while over the tryline.
Worth getting up early on a Friday, then.
