Brothers in arms:
Scott, Jordie and
Beauden line up
against Samoa.Where Barrett actually comes from is a dairy
farm in Taranaki, a mountainous region on
the west coast of NZ’s North Island. Kevin
Barrett, Beauden’s father, played a fair bit
of rugby too. He turned out for Taranaki
province for 13 years before playing two
seasons for the Hurricanes after the game
turned professional.
Those sporting genes have passed
down to his kids in emphatic style. Barrett
senior fathered a prodigious brood of eight
children. Of his five sons, Beauden, Scott
and Jordie have already played for the
national team.
Despite spawning this All Black dynasty,
Kevin Barrett took a largely hands-off
approach to his sons’ rugby development.
Any lectures involving the oval ball were
confined to mastering the basics. “It was just
about doing the simple things well,” Barrett
recalls. “How to pass off both hands, how to
kick off both feet. They’re the things that I
learnt as a kid that still pay off to this day.”
In fact, it was Barrett’s mother, Robyn,
who proved the more committed sporting
parent. At the end of the school day, she
would arrive at the school gates but only
collect the bags of 10-year-old Beauden
and his brothers. The boys would then be
expected to run the 3.5km home barefooted
in a race against the school bus.
“You couldn’t talk her out of it so you just
went along with it,” Barrett says. “But I’m
so grateful for it because going through my
teenage years I was never the biggest player.
It was only my skill and fitness levels that
gave me the opportunity to push on.”
Barrett has certainly progressed - he
scored the match-clinching try in the 2015
World Cup Final. But when mulling over
career highlights, he’s quick to mention the
recent match against Samoa when he lined
up for the All Blacks alongside his brothers,
Jordie and Scott, for the first time.
“That was very, very special,” says
Barrett, visibly moved by the recollection.
“Our fondest memories as kids were of
running around the back lawn at home
pretending to be Andrew Mehrtens, Tana
Umaga, Christian Cullen. Now it’s our time.
“It’s like, shit, where did the last 20 years
go? All the stuff that’s happened between
then and now. All the hard work that’s got us
there. We’re living the dream.”“We don’t run away from it, we run towards
the pressure,” Barrett says. “As All Blacks,
that’s our normal. And it’s great.”
It’s three weeks earlier when MH meets
Barrett at a photography studio in the
Auckland suburb of Grafton. The three-
match series against the Lions – that will
ultimately end in a controversial stalemate
- kicks off in three days. Yet despite the
sky-high stakes, the reigning World Player
of the Year is unruffled at the prospect.
Tall and unassuming, Barret is a clean-
shaven 26-year-old with the rangy build
of a middleweight boxer. He’s not the
most physically intimidating player you’ll
meet, but the self-belief behind his calm
demeanour is clear.
Pressure, Barrett continues, is the
ultimate sporting privilege. Weighty
expectations simply confirm you’re playing
at the highest level. “That’s the challenge
and that’s what we love as sportsmen,” he says.
Barrett handles that pressure better
than most. With ball in hand, he’s now the
most dangerous player in the world and is
redefining the five-eighth position with his
sharp handling and explosive running game.
His predecessor in the All Blacks side was
a certain Dan Carter, widely acknowledged as
an all-time great. Stepping into his boots put
Barrett under forensic scrutiny. He shrugged
off the pressure and forged the role in a
different cast, not as goal-kicking automaton
but as an electrifying creative force.
What makes Barrett so exciting is
his unpredictability. In an increasingly
structured game, he can bewilder a defence
with his off-the-cuff skills. Barrett’s offensive
kicking game is deadly with his knack
of detonating flat, crossfield drives that
guide his wingers in behind the opposition
defence. But it’s Barrett’s raw speed that
makes him a real game-changer.
“It’s not usual for a fly-half to have that
sort of out-and-out pace,” says All Blacks
legend Richie McCaw. “That means if
Beauden sees any gap he’s able to take it.”
McCaw has watched the evolution of
Barrett’s game at close quarters, playing
alongside him as the youngster eased his way
into the All Blacks set-up as a substitute full-
back or winger. “In his first year, Beauden
was often coming off the bench, but his pace
and skills meant that he could almost always
make an impact,” McCaw says.
Since claiming the mantle of fly-half,
Barrett has yoked his swashbuckling style to
greater tactical vision. In union, the fly-half
is the conductor who orchestrates the way
his team plays. While clocking up 53 caps
for his country, Barrett has shown greater
willingness to take control from his chosen
spot perilously close to the enemy gain-
line. “Beauden looks increasingly confident
directing things,” says McCaw approvingly.
“Defensively he’s also come a long way.”
TACTICS