a legend of the Wallabies, was questioned about All Blacks captain Scott Barrett’s contentious call during the thrilling 30-29 defeat to France.
There has been much discussion over what transpired after New Zealand was given a penalty with roughly six minutes remaining.
After being pumped into the Test off the pine, Damian McKenzie had already kept the All Blacks in the game by scoring three penalty shots. The visitors were behind four points as the substitute set up another crucial attempt at goal in the 74th minute.
Two international rugby heavyweight contenders faced up in a dramatic finish after McKenzie put the ball through the middle of the uprights. However, the three points on the scoreboard came with a sense of risk, so it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
The visitors wouldn’t leave their side of the pitch in the last five minutes of play after France delivered the restart deep into the All Blacks’ half. The All Blacks were left yearning for a moment of heroism from one of their own, but Les Bleus’ wall-like defence held firm.
Before the ball was judged unplayable from the maul, Will Jordan, a fullback, was held up by a few French defenders with time running out. Both the game and the All Blacks’ aspirations of winning their wildly successful Northern Tour came to an end as a result.
When asked if the All Blacks should have kicked for touch rather than taking the chance at goal, Hooper responded, “Yeah, I mean, we’ll never know, that’s the thing that sucks,” on Stan Sports’ Between Two Posts.
They must be thinking, “Maybe we should have kicked to touch now that we know the outcome.”
“However, if they win those three points, they just need to come down within 50 once more to have another chance at winning, which is likely more likely than getting a try occasionally from 20 out.
“However, we will never know.”
The idea of hindsight is intriguing, as Hooper indicated. If the All Blacks had scored after kicking for touch, Barrett could have been hailed as a brilliant captain, but if they had rejected the goal, he would have been chastised for not accepting the points.
Shortly after full-time, coach Scott Robertson addressed the situation in a post-match interview on the Sky Sport NZ broadcast, making it evident that this would be a major talking point of the All Blacks’ upcoming Test match against Italy.
“I’ll discuss it further with Scott (Barrett),” Razor stated. “He made the call.” During the post-match press conference, Barrett was also questioned about the incident, and the captain said that he was “really torn” about what choice to make at that precise moment.
“You’re one scoring play after you kick that penalty goal,” former Wallaby Morgan Turinui said on Stan Sport.
“They know that if they can get anywhere close to halfway and get a penalty, they can win the game, so it does that even when they’re on their own line, two meters out from their own try line after the bell trying to punch away.”
“They must have thought, ‘We can win the game here but going to the corner,’ at one point. There were other little choices made in the game’s backend that not only determined the winner but also stated that France was a very worthy winner.
When the All Blacks left the shores of New Zealand for their year-end trip, they had already defeated Eddie Jones’ Japan, England, and Ireland. Following the setback to France in Paris, they’ve already switched their attention towards an impending showdown with Italy in chilly circumstances.
