Dave Rennie names his first All Blacks squad on Monday, and the loudest argument in New Zealand rugby is over a player who has been a fixture for more than a decade. Should Beauden Barrett, 35, still be picked?
The case against has grown sharper after a quiet Super Rugby Pacific season for the Blues. RugbyPass columnist Hamish Bidwell put it bluntly, writing that Barrett's selection feels inevitable and unjustified in equal measure.
"I think we'd all agree that Beauden Barrett will be in the first All Blacks test squad of the season," Bidwell wrote. "Just as, we'd also have to admit he probably has no business being in the team anymore."
Bidwell's wider point was about a culture of clinging to reputations. "There are only so many former glories that selectors can cling to," he argued, adding that Barrett and Damian McKenzie "have been found wanting when New Zealand really needed them."
Broadcaster Scotty Stevenson, speaking on Sport Nation's Scotty and Izzy show, was similarly unconvinced — and flagged the contract complication hanging over the decision. Barrett is understood to hold an out-clause with the Blues should he be left out of the national side.
"He's battling to give me compelling evidence," Stevenson said. "I know that he's got a lot of history in that jersey, he's come up with a lot of special moments and he's still a very gifted footy player, but you tell me there's been any compelling evidence over the last two months to suggest that Beauden Barrett is deserving of All Blacks selection."
His co-host, former All Blacks back Israel Dagg, pushed back hard, arguing Barrett has been undermined by those around him at the Blues.
"There is nothing compelling with the entire Blues outfit right now, so I've got to take into consideration the productivity that he has been given from his team," Dagg said. He spoke from experience. "I've been in this situation, I've played horrible Super Rugby, I was shocking, but get that black jersey, it's different. Give him that black jersey, it is different... do I think he can rediscover his form and find something in that black jersey? 100 per cent."
The selection noise has a live backdrop. McKenzie's Chiefs face Ruben Love's Hurricanes in Saturday night's Super Rugby Pacific final at a sold-out Wellington, the two perceived front-runners for the No.10 jersey going head to head in a last audition. Love, 25, has run one of the competition's most potent attacks in his first full season in the role.
Brett Cameron, the one-Test All Black who has watched the season from the sidelines after a knee injury, expects the showdown to flatter both men.
"It'll be awesome to see," Cameron said. "Damian's a special player, and the way he runs that Chiefs team, they're a different side with him at 10. So, I think Ruben will thrive; he's been awesome at 10 this year, and it's going to be awesome to watch."
Rennie's verdict lands on Monday. Whatever he decides about Barrett, the men competing to replace him will have made their own statements 48 hours earlier.
