Scott Barrett’s assessment of first year as All Blacks Captain

By Alex Powell

With 2024 all but done, All Blacks captain Scott Barrett concedes his side endured a mixed season, his first as captain of his country’s rugby team.

Following the season-ending northern tour last month, the All Blacks finished the year with a 10-win, four-loss record from Scott Robertson’s first year in charge.

After Sam Cane’s resignation as All Blacks captain before the start of the season, 31-year-old Barrett was Robertson’s first choice as captain, despite Ardie Savea offering stiff competition.

And in spite of Barrett and Robertson’s success as captain and coach in the Crusaders’ Super Rugby dynasty, the skipper did concede he didn’t feel completely comfortable in leading his country before the All Blacks’ second test against England.

However, while the All Blacks did earn impressive away wins over Ireland and England, two losses to South Africa having squandered winning positions and a home loss to Argentina are a blot on the copybook.

Meanwhile, a one-point defeat to France saw Barrett come under the microscope after he conservatively opted to take three points in the dying stages of the match when the All Blacks needed a try to win the match. That came just a week after arguably Barrett’s best display as All Blacks captain, in a victory over Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

Speaking as an ambassador for the Special Olympics, one year out from Christchurch holding the National Summer Games, Barrett opened up on his first year in charge of the All Blacks.

“It’s certainly been a big year,” he said. “It’s been a trying year on a personal note with injuries, and stepping into a role that’s pretty demanding at times.

“We didn’t get the results we were after, but it was pleasing to see the group grow as the year wore on ... younger players stepping up.

“We finished on a reasonably strong tour, despite going down to France.”

Those younger players stepping up include Wallace Sititi, who was named World Rugby’s breakthrough player of the year. Sititi was one of 10 players to win their first test cap in 2024.

That came after the most significant amount of player departures in All Blacks history, where some of the greatest to ever wear the black jersey left New Zealand after last year’s World Cup in France.

Looking ahead to 2025, things will be slightly different for Barrett. For a start, he won’t continue as Crusaders captain after coach Rob Penney made the decision to hand the reins to someone else to ease Barrett’s workload.

That’s not without precedent, Kieran Read never held the roles of All Blacks and Crusaders captain at the same time either.

And while the next Crusaders captain is still to be named, Barrett assures whoever gets the job will have his complete backing.

“I haven’t thought too much ahead to next year,” he professed.

“I had a chat with Rob, [about] potentially dropping the captaincy and giving an opportunity for someone else to take that on into the 2025 season.

“Those conversations have been had, and whoever steps into that role, I’ll certainly support them. They’ll do a great job.”

On the national front, Barrett will have one unofficial objective in 2025.

As New Zealand Rugby confirmed next year’s home test calendar, a match-up against the world champion Springboks at Eden Park on September 6 looms as the major drawcard.

The two sides haven’t met at New Zealand’s national stadium since 2013, with the All Blacks now having gone 50 tests without defeat at the venue.

But with the Springboks now having won their last four tests against the All Blacks, that record arguably faces its biggest threat.

“They’ll certainly show up,” he said. “They’ve probably been wanting to play there for a while.

“It will be a good occasion, I look forward to it.”

Since that 2013 test, on home soil the All Blacks have beaten South Africa 35-20 at Go Media Stadium in 2023, and 57-0 at Albany’s North Harbour Stadium.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission