The Crusaders are aiming to improve after finishing 10th in 2024
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett has relinquished the Crusaders captaincy
You could make quite the list of players who have their reasons for needing to make a statement in Super Rugby Pacific this year.
Somewhere near the top of the list would be Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie, the country’s two leading first fiveswho have suddenly leapt in importance now that their old mate Richie Mo’unga is not coming home later this year as anticipated.
That one decision has transformed the entire World Cup cycle and if Barrett and McKenzie were imagining only a few months ago that they were not much more than placeholders for the national side and that 2025 would likely be their last Super Rugby campaign, they will now be thinking that they are playing to establish or confirm a pecking order.
Ardie Savea has made a bold move to Moana, one that has obvious potential to lift the performances of the club and in turn, entice other quality players to follow suit.
It’s a big load to lay on him, to say that he can single-handedly turn Moana around, but Savea has the sort of presence, charisma and talent to change the fortunes of a club that hasn’t quite been able to find itself or its people since it launched in 2022.
Ardie Savea has made a bold move to Moana. Photo / INPHO
Ethan de Groot is another who will want to remind everyone that he’s a dynamic scrummager and capable all-court prop.
He didn’t have a glorious 2024, losing his starting spot in the All Blacks after a still unclarified off-field indiscretion.
The all-important thing when players fall from grace is to see how they respond – and de Groot’s route back into the All Blacks selectors’ good books is through his Super Rugby performances.
But probably the player with most at stake in Super Rugby is Scott Barrett, who endured not quite an annus horribilis in 2024, but one which probably came worryingly close to being so.
Not much went right for Barrett last year. He barely played in Super Rugby due to injury and he came into the test programme with limited game time under his belt and his confidence rocked by the Crusaders enduring their worst campaign since 1996.
Scott Barrett has rescinded the Crusaders captaincy ahead of a new season. Photo / Photosport
It was a tough spot in which to find himself – trying to find his own form while simultaneously trying to find his way as the new All Blacks captain with a new coaching and management team.
The scale of change inside the team meant there was little to no institutional knowledge for Barrett to tap into and the outcome was that neither Barrett, new coach Scott Robertson nor the All Blacks managed to deliver in line with expectation.
It was apparent that Barrett found the transition to All Blacks captain harder than he imagined, but as painful as that may have been at times, it has at least, presumably, made him infinitely better prepared to do the job in 2025.
Or at least, he’s got a better idea about where his focus needs to be.
He rescinded the Crusaders captaincy – a decision that has been sold as a mutual agreement by Barrett and head coach Rob Penney – but it may be that the former had the greater say in that.
Barrett will have learned that the demands of the All Blacks job are such, that the best way to prepare is free of the burden of also having to carry the Super Rugby captaincy.
There’s an argument to say that the experience of leading the Crusaders can only surely hone his craft when it comes to leading the All Blacks, but this is precisely what Barrett will have discovered in 2024 – that the two jobs are virtually incomparable.
Scott Barrett and All Blacks coach Scott Robertson failed to deliver in line with expectation last year. Photo / INPHO / Tom Maher
There’s not much that can be learned in the Super Rugby role to take through to the All Blacks and two of Barrett’s predecessors – Richie McCaw and Kieran Read – certainly felt that way, abdicating from the Crusaders so they could sit more regally and authoritatively on the All Blacks throne.
Barrett has done the same this year, presumably not just to relieve himself of an unnecessary burden, but also because he’s half-wary of the Crusaders bombing again and the additional impact that could have on sapping his energy and draining his confidence.
His plan would appear to be to focus exclusively on playing well – on re-establishing himself as one of the best locks in the world and to use his form as his best weapon to improve his All Blacks captaincy.
The simplicity of his plan is its strength because it’s easy to imagine that whatever stress points Barrett felt last year when he was leading the All Blacks, most of them can be alleviated by having greater confidence in his form.
Play well, lead well has long been the theory when it comes to All Blacks captaincy.
Super Rugby, then, is his chance to get back to being the best version of himself and remind his peers and his opponents that he’s a genuinely commanding and imposing figure in the world game.
