All Blacks captain Scott Barrett concedes that criticism about his form for the Crusaders in Super Rugby Pacific have been “not far off the mark”.

The 31-year-old has been in the firing line after a slow start to the season with former All Blacks Jeff Wilson, Mils Muliaina, and Justin Marshall expressing their concerns on Sky’s The Breakdown.

The trio agreed that Barrett was out of form and needed to lift his game for the second half of the Super Rugby season.

When asked about his form in 2025, Barrett admitted his performances have been below par.

“I hold myself to high standard and potentially some of the performances early in the year haven’t been where I’d like,” said Barrett.

“It’s the media’s job to create interest and I’ve got opinions on performances and possibly those opinions have been not far off the mark.

“Having reflected upon that [last week] I’m looking forward to bounce this week.”

The lock was stripped of the Crusaders’ captaincy, a role he’d held since 2020, ahead of the season to ease his workload, with David Havili taking the reins.

“I do enjoy leading and, possibly having an extra responsibility may have helped my performances in the past,” said Barrett.

“I think I’ve just got to really put my best foot forward each week for this team and get back to playing some of the best footy I can.”

Barrett started in the Crusaders’ first six games of the season, before being rested during last week’s win over the Fijian Drua in Suva.

Despite his form, the Crusaders are sitting second in Super Rugby Pacific, two points behind the table-topping Chiefs.

The Crusaders only won four games last season, and after seven matches in 2025, they already have five wins.

Crusaders coach Rob Penney insisted he was not concerned about Barrett’s form.

“Scoot [Barrett] is fine, he will be determined,” said Penny. “He’s a massively influential guy in our environment and we expect him to gradually get any doubters out of the way and he will kick on in the back end.

“By no means has he been bad. I guess players of his ilk have high expectations every week.

“As the old saying goes, form comes and goes but class is permanent, and he’s certainly got class and his form will come back to where we all hope it can be very quickly, no doubt.”

The Crusaders face a crucial clash against the Hurricanes on Friday night in Wellington.

They beat the Hurricanes 33-25 in the season opener in February.