Waterboy’s advice guides Barrett
‘‘I like it when my water boy brings good chat and he certainly brought that.’’
Beauden Barrett
Taranaki-born Beauden Barrett had a little help as he led the All Blacks out of a tight spot in his first game as captain.
Luckily for the newbie leader his water boy had played 107 times for his country and won two World Cups.
Barrett had regular skipper Kieran Read running the sideline hydration programme in Saturday’s (early Sunday NZT) 31-22 victory over the Barbarians at Twickenham. And the talented Taranaki playmaker didn’t mind admitting afterwards he was grateful for the assistance rendered.
A mostly second-string All Blacks side trailed 10-0 and 17-5 in the first half, and really only rescued the game with a three-try, 21-point outburst in seven minutes midway through the second spell.
‘‘I like it when my water boy brings good chat and he certainly brought that,’’ said Barrett of the presence of Read prowling the sideline, and having his share of interactions with referee Nigel Owens. At one stage Owens joked he was going to referee the All Blacks-Wales encounter, which appeared to startle Read.
Barrett said Read ‘‘gave me a couple of pointers on how to deal with the ref and what to say, and that was valuable. And there was just a simple message around the game-plan and structures’’.
Overall the star All Blacks No 10 felt the captaincy experience for the week had been hugely beneficial.
‘‘It was a great learning experience. Going into the week I was quite nervous. The haka was a great buzz. It was quite daunting thinking about it, but once we were out there I really enjoyed it and going forward I think I’ll be able to assist Kieran a lot better.’’
Barrett said the Barbarians gave them exactly the challenge the All Blacks had anticipated.
‘‘I was just pleased the way we bounced back. We kept it simple, adjusted our game accordingly, applied pressure on them and came away with the result.’’
In leading the All Blacks at Twickenham Barrett became the first Taranaki player to captain the side since Andrew Hore in 2011 against Canada at the Rugby World Cup.