Hurricanes sweating over Barrett

 

The All Black playmaker twisted his knee when he was squeezed between two Crusaders players in the Hurricanes' thrilling 29-23 victory in Wellington on Saturday.

 

It was the Hurricanes' ninth win out of ten games this season, and leaves them one victory away from securing a play-off spot.

 

Coach Chris Boyd's team face the struggling Sharks next, which may be a good opportunity to fulfill Barrett's mandatory rest period even if he does recover in time to play.

 

Although he was very satisfied with the result against the Crusaders, Boyd said that it was far from a perfect performance with plenty of room for improvement in their defensive structures.

 

"We were actually delighted we were 17-all at half-time with such an average performance," Boyd told the Dominion Post. "We didn't need to say anything at half-time, the boys were pretty disappointed… It was about 25 per cent possession and 21 per cent territory and you aren't going to win too many games with those stats.

 

"We missed way too many one on one tackles. They have a particular shape they play which is pretty relentless so we knew exactly what was coming and we trained all week to deal with that, but didn't quite get it right," he said.

 

Boyd was encouraged by the commitment his side showed under pressure, which will be crucial heading towards the knock-out phase of the competition.

 

"I think this group now has a good resolve among them. I didn't see any panic out there. Everyone knew what we needed to do, the heads were clear and we got the result.

 

"I think the pack showed good resolve and the dominant tackle defence in the last 20 minutes was crucial. I don't know if it that [resolve] was there before or not, but you have a very experienced side there.

 

"You are talking three or four guys with 100 games, a half dozen with 50, and there are ten guys who have worn the All Blacks jersey. Some guys are less experienced, but there is an awful lot of rugby intelligence in the team, so there is no need to get into the red," he added.