Country boy Barrett catches the bus
A country upbringing and family dedicated to athletic success were key to All Black’s rise, he tells Mick Cleary It’s about teamwork. The flashy stuff, the instinctive in-themoment play, is just one per cent.
Beauden Barrett’s mother, Robyn, would arrive at the school gates in rural Taranaki to meet the 10-yearold and his brothers Scott and Jordie but took home only their bags. They were told to run the 3.5km to the family farm at Pungarehu, on the Surf Highway near the Cape Lighthouse — bare-footed.
Beauden, the oldest of the three, is now the world player of the year and last Friday against Samoa the Barretts became the first trio of siblings to be in a match-day All Black squad at the same time. An active upbringing was central to creating one of the most talented families in New Zealand’s sporting history.
“Yeah, that’s the way it was,” recalled Beauden, in an exclusive interview with UK Daily Telegraph. “Mum always encouraged us to run, she was very athletic. I just thought, ‘Oh well, at least we’re out of the classroom’. The goal was to beat the bus home. The bus had a block to do. More times than not, we’d beat it.”
It is little wonder the 26-year-old was on the end of an All Black breakout from defence against Samoa, an 80-metre effort that ended with him toe-poking the ball onwards and touching down, the little kid still chasing and beating the school bus.
He won his 50th cap in the match, lock Scott his fifth, while Jordie, a utility back, was on debut. Older brother, Kane, was a Super Rugby player with the Blues but has been sidelined with concussion while the youngest of the five boys of eight children, Blake, is a promising player with Taranaki club Coastal.
To appreciate the relish with which Beauden plays rugby, his zest, his enthralment, his energy and his mastery of the trade, you have to understand his childhood.
“I’m a Kiwi country boy, approachable, genuine, never getting too far ahead of myself, a straightforward kind of bloke,” said Barrett. “A lot of the values I have come from the farm and from my parents, of grafting and of giving, and of always striving to be the best you can be. It’s about teamwork. The flashy stuff, the instinctive in-themoment play, is just one per cent.”
The Barretts were always playing games in the wide open spaces of the farm where Dad, Kevin, a former hard-nosed Taranaki forward, tends 250 dairy cows. Impromptu games of rugby and cricket, with family and friends would be the norm once the chores were done.
“Fresh air and big open spaces — we were blessed with that,” said Barrett. “It was all we knew, I guess. I love going back to the farm where all you can hear are the cows or the sea crashing in about a kilometre away. Our uncle’s farm is on the beach and we are one up from that towards the mountain.
“Dad used to teach us the basic catch-and-pass skills, the very sort of stuff we do now with the All Blacks so, yeah, a lot to be grateful for there.
“They were never pushy parents. Sport was ingrained in us. Dad would milk the cows and go off and play an NPC match for Taranaki. That was just life. Mum and Dad worked so hard. We’d come home from school and Dad would appreciate help in the cow sheds. It was about sharing the load.”
The Barretts spent 18 months in Ireland in the late 1990s, following the death of Kevin’s younger brother in a car accident, to manage a dairy farm in Ballinacree in County Meath. They all upped sticks and the boys were sent off for their first day at the local primary school. It was early
January. “We went bare-footed as we always did back home,” recalled Beauden. “We got told off and couldn’t figure out why. It was Miss McCormack, giving us the cross face, the finger to come to her that indicated you were in trouble.”
Not for long. The Barretts became an integral part of that small community. They played Gaelic football and football.
“I’d never played soccer before and loved it, wanted to be David Beckham as Manchester United were my favourite, that and Real Madrid with Luis Figo,” said Barrett, who was also an exceptional crosscountry runner, winning an allIreland title. “Mum just told me to run it so I did. All I can really remember is that it was mud and freezing cold.”
Barrett loved his introduction to football but when they returned to New Zealand, rugby took over (and later golf, with all the boys fine players and Beauden having a handicap of six). But he was lightweight in stature and had difficulties imposing himself on larger opponents. “That was why Mum emphasised the need for running, Dad the need for skills, the pass off both hands, the kicks off both feet, to have a point of difference,” said Barrett. “I wasn’t a great player at school, actually, but I did pride myself on being fit, on being able to go longer than others.”
Given that one of the hallmarks of his game is his blistering speed off the mark, making him the most potent first-five in the world game, it is a surprise to learn that he was not a sprinter at school.
“It was more 400 metres, 800m or even 1500m for me,” said Barrett. “I learned to sprint as I grew older, when I got into the gym, did plyometrics and stuff. I had to work at it.”
Just as Dan Carter announced himself to the wider world with his tour de force performances in the 2005 series against the Lions, so might Barrett soon. Barrett may not seek out the spotlight but it will continue to find him, the country boy who beat the bus home.