Wallabies five-eighth Berrick Barnes turned up the heat on Quade Cooper ahead of the Rugby Championship, with another man-of-the-match performance against Wales on Saturday.
With Cooper ruled out of the June Test period through injury, Barnes seized his opportunity at No.10, playing a starring role in the three-match clean-sweep of Wales which was capped by a 20-19 victory on his home turf in Sydney.
Cooper is expected to return to the field for Queensland next weekend as he pushes towards a Test return against New Zealand on August 18, but Barnes has at least given Wallabies coach Robbie Deans food for thought.
Barnes said he’d grown in confidence with back-to-back, best-on-ground efforts.
“I’ve been fortunate an opportunity presented itself. I didn’t think I was playing too bad in the last few rounds of Super Rugby so I felt I was building. I was working hard off the field,” said Barnes.
“If an opportunity presented itself why wouldn’t I keep going with that? I’ve had a lot of enjoyment in the last three weeks.”
Although he failed to get Australia home in the dismal loss to Scotland, Barnes’ composure was the difference against Wales.
Barnes threw the vital pass in the Wallabies’ only try on Saturday to centre Rob Horne, before piloting home the winning penalty kick with four minutes left.
That was just a week after Barnes missed what would have been a match-winning shot in the second Test and it was left to his replacement Mike Harris to be the hero with a goal after the siren.
This week Barnes did it all himself, kicking five penalties, including the clincher from a tough angle.
“I wasn’t really (thinking about last week’s miss). I heard some Welsh bloke say something … but I managed to block it out,” he said.
“It didn’t worry me so much today. I felt I’d done a lot of work during the week to try and rectify (kicking). In those situations you have to trust what you’ve been doing.”
Barnes became a first-time father in a dramatic lead-up to the Melbourne game and the 26-year-old said the experience had been good for him.
“I’ve had a bit of sleep, my missus has been up at night,” he joked.
“That’s definitely helped and given me a spur on. It puts a lot of things in perspective.”
