‘Do it for Barnesy’: Chiefs call
Five maul tries and a couple of scrum pushovers is what Anton Lienert-Brown sees as the finest farewell for Chiefs assistant coach Neil Barnes against the Waratahs.
Unable to make the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final barring a run of upsets ahead of their fixture tonight in Sydney, the Chiefs are, much to Barnes’ embarrassment, instead using the departure of their forwards mentor as an extra slice of motivation for their season-ender.
After six years at the club, the Taranaki dairy farmer is returning home to take up a two-year contract as head coach of the NPC side, and, fronting media midweek, he was already feeling the emotions of his impending departure take hold when asked what he loved so much about the Chiefs.
‘‘People, first and foremost,’’ he said. ‘‘The culture. I was really fortunate, I suppose, to coach with Rens [Dave Rennie] to start with, but right through the whole six years it’s been pretty special. F... I’m already losing it.’’
Sitting alongside Barnes on that Zoom call, midfielder LienertBrown provided back-rub comfort, along with a thank-you hug for a man he said had certainly lived up to the ‘‘good bugger’’ motto Rennie had for the people the nowWallabies coach wanted in his environment back then.
‘‘Obviously he’s a quality coach, but best of all he’s a good bugger on and off the field,’’ Lienert-Brown said of a man, who, while not directly in charge of the backs, still had plenty to offer the players further out. We’ve had some really good challenging conversations throughout our time, we’ve had arguments, but which are good ones, and we’ve also had a lot of good times together, too.
‘‘He’s pretty much ‘Dad’ to the whole forward pack, especially all those Taranaki boys, so they’re going to be without their old man. It’s going to be tough seeing old mate go, but he’ll be around no doubt. If the forwards can get about five maul tries that’d be nice, and a couple of pushover scrums, that’s how we can send him off on a high note.’’
Apart from an ill-fated move to oversee defence in 2019, Barnes, who also has international experience with Canada and Fiji, has been at the centre of the Chiefs’ pack work, and said he will look back with pride on the group he’s leaving behind up front.
‘‘It’s been a tough time the last couple of years because we’ve lost our experience, and that was unintentional. And we’ve had to blood 19 and 20-year-olds, so last year was a big learning process for them.
‘‘They’ve transformed into Super players now. And I think next year they’re at that level where they’re experienced campaigners. You chuck Brodie Retallick amongst them, and I’d say, ‘Look out’ to the opposition.’’
Coach Clayton McMillan had just the one season with Barnes but described him as ‘‘a loyal man’’, ‘‘extremely humble’’, and ‘‘hugely passionate and detailed’’ around forward play and lineouts, and ‘‘the perfect foil’’ for him in his first-year Super gig.
What Barnes’ departure will also mean is halftime TV interviews won’t ever quite be the same, with his sharp tongue having regularly proved a hit for viewers.
‘‘That’s sort of Barnesy in a nutshell, though,’’ McMillan said. ‘‘What you see is what you get. There’s no bull .... around him, he just calls a spade a spade.
‘‘But he cares. Even though he can come across sometimes as a bit abrasive, it’s coming from a place of care, and a lot of that comes back to his love for the team and the players within it.
‘‘He’s a great challenger – if he doesn’t believe in something then you’re certainly going to be not left wondering. But, equally, he’s a great listener, and really flexible.
‘‘He’ll be sorely missed. But we also wish him all the best in his next challenge of going back to his beloved Taranaki and trying to create something special there.’’
As for McMillan, he may be the man to replace Barnes, with this also his final game in charge before Warren Gatland returns next year.