Barrett brothers’ Ellis Park tackles are eerily similar
One of the biggest moments of the All Blacks’ win over the Springboks at the weekend came very early in the match and did not result in either side getting any points, rather South Africa’s inability to score points.
This was Pieter-Steph du Toit’s interception and run to the corner, with the Boks eventually being held up over the line. Jordie Barrett was the player who made the tackle to stop the flanker, who had made the run from his own 40 metre line. The All Blacks fullback had to track back quite a distance to make the tackle, which was impressive enough, but what was even more interesting is that his brother Beauden produced a very similar tackle on the same Ellis Park pitch nine years earlier in the two sides’ iconic Test there.
On that occasion Beauden was chasing down Willie le Roux, which maybe makes it more impressive as he was chasing down a back three player rather than a forward. Having said that, Jordie had to come from a further distance to make the tackle.
Both tackles were recently shared by ‘Feed The Backs’ on Instagram and they are eerily similar. Take a look:
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Jordie’s tackle was hugely influential on the final scoreline on Saturday, as it would have given the Springboks a five or seven point lead rather than the 15 point lead that the All Blacks built. More importantly, it may have changed the way the All Blacks attacked for the rest of the game, as they were trying to put more width on the ball than the week before at the time of the interception. They stuck to that gameplan despite du Toit’s run, but may have been less inclined to had he scored.
