All Blacks coach Ian Foster has defended the surprise selection of Scott Barrett as blindside flanker, named in the No.6 jersey to face Ireland at Eden Park in the first test of 2022.
Barrett, 28, will start out of position on Saturday night, moving from the second row into the loose forwards alongside Ardie Savea and captain Sam Cane.
Saturday will see Barrett start at No.6 for the All Blacks for the first time since the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final, when Sir Steve Hansen's side were outmuscled in a 19-7 defeat in Yokohama.
But after captaining the Crusaders to a sixth title in six years, Barrett has been given a vote of confidence by the All Blacks' coach, backed to shine on the blindside of the scrum.
"[It's the] first time he's started for us there, but he's filled in a couple of times there," Foster said.
"He's also played for the Crusaders there. We know that he can do it.
"He's one of the form players in Super Rugby in the last four to six weeks. He's on top of his game.
After such a harrowing experience back in 2019, Foster would be forgiven for not wanting to throw Barrett back into the deep end at No.6 against a physical side like Ireland.
Nearly three years on from that defeat though, Foster is confident Barrett and the team as a whole have learned what they needed to from that World Cup-ending loss.
"I didn't spend too long thinking about the 2019 game," he continued. "But we took some lessons from that, they were learned a long time ago.
"This one, we're very clear about the strategy. It's something we've talked to Scott about this possibility.
"If we look at the positives of it, apart from his set piece acumen - we know how good he is in that space - he's also bringing a bruising defence and ball-carrying part to his game now.
"He's probably our most dynamic lock ball carrier at the moment. We can utilise that at No.6.
"So there's some things that even if you sit down with Scott and talk to him about it, he finds a lot of the roles very similar now, except for a couple of defensive tweaks that we've had to make sure we tidy up."
Foster also explained Barrett's selection comes down to a lack of genuine options elsewhere in his squad.
Both Akira Ioane and Dalton Papalii could have filled in at No.6, but are recovering from knocks at the back end of Super Rugby Pacific, with Foster not wanting to risk them in a starting position.
Ethan Blackadder and Shannon Frizell have both missed out on the squad to face Ireland due to injury, while Luke Jacobson has been overlooked.
Pita Gus Sowakula will start on the bench as cover for the loose forwards, as one of two debutants alongside Leicester Fainga'anuku.
"We've got Akira [Ioane], who when he came in, we discovered his foot was a bit sorer than we perhaps thought," Foster added.
"He looked like that in the playoff games. And so it's a chance for him to have another week to make sure he's jumping out of his skin.
"The same applies for Dalton [Papalii]. He's got a great attitude, he's nearly at 100 percent, but he's not quite there.
"We just felt it was the right way to utilise those two, to use Scott Barrett for this test and give those two an opportunity to get back to 100 [percent]."
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