All Blacks legend Mils Muliaina has highlighted the importance of star playmaker Beauden Barrett to the Blues’ cause during their 2025 Super Rugby Pacific campaign.

Despite being the tournament’s defending champions, the Blues have found the going tough in 2025 as they are currently languishing in 10th position in the 11-team competition with just two victories amassed from their seven matches played.

Barrett shines in both victories for the Blues

Both those victories were secured against the Hurricanes and Barrett played a leading role on both occasions, with their most recent triumph registered at Eden Park in Auckland last week.

The veteran All Blacks playmaker showed his class with a polished display as he caught the eye with his excellent attacking skills which saw him gaining 57 metres from 11 runs, which included five defenders beaten, while he was also solid off the kicking tee as he finished with a 14-point haul courtesy of four penalties and a conversion in the men from Auckland’s 19-18 win.

What made the 33-year-old’s performance extra special for Blues supporters was the fact that it was his first appearance after recovering from a hand fracture sustained in a Round Four clash against the Brumbies.

Muliaina sang Barrett’s praises on The Breakdown show and said he gets his vote as the player of the Super Rugby Pacific round.

“I’ve gone for a player that has been out for four weeks (as player of the round),” he said. “A player that needed to come back when their team are desperately in need of some form and a winner. That’s Beauden Barrett.

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“I like the way he sort of came out of the blocks. Started strong. Hit the sort of close channels when there was opportunities. But also, you know, ran the cutter. He understood. You (fellow All Blacks great Justin Marshall) talked about his kicking game.

‘His skill-set was amazing’

“I mean, I said to him after the game, ‘man, those banana kicks’. I mean, was he practising those? His skill-set was amazing. But what I loved about it is he knew, he understood, hey, these guys are under pressure.

“He was nice and calm. Okay, he made a couple of mistakes. But when you’ve been out for four weeks and have a performance like that and get the W for the team that’s desperately needing of it, he’s my player of the week.”

Marshall echoed Muliaina’s sentiments and said Barrett showed how important he is to the Blues cause.

“Without a massive change in the game plan as well,” he said. “We were expecting, weren’t we? We were chatting before the game thinking, are we going to see this slight little bit of innovation?

“But they basically sucker punched the Hurricanes into playing the style they wanted them to and brought them into their zones all afternoon, all evening. And Beauden orchestrated that.”

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ex-all-blacks-star-highlights-beauden-barretts-importance-to-blues-cause