Quiet man Barrett is taking All Blacks to new heights
A training session with New Zealand and an audience with the world’s No1 player are enough to convince me of their greatness
Beauden Barrett grimaces when I ask a question he does not like. I am not asking about the controversial new tackle laws, the threat of being targeted by England at Twickenham today or even whether a second defeat in five games would send the All Blacks into a tailspin.
Instead, on a quiet corner of a rugby field by the Thames, I am asking about how this tall, slight man feels about his status as perhaps world rugby’s only true superstar. Despite a third successive World Player of the Year award looking increasingly likely, Barrett seems uncomfortable with being singled out.
“When you mention that nomination I get embarrassed,” he says. “It’s a team sport and we are in it together. The two us [he and fellow nominee Reiko Ioane] have been put up there, but it’s not something we skite [boast] about. That’s not the Kiwi way.”
I have spent my career surrounded by top-class athletes, and very few are embarrassed by recognition to the extent Barrett so clearly is. During my career I was desperate to stand out in any way possible. But for Barrett this is not false modesty, but instead a natural aversion at the idea he might be anything other than a cog in the All Blacks’ machine.
“We definitely believe there are no superstars in our team,” he adds. “To be at fly-half in a great team, the All Blacks, it just means I’m pretty lucky.”
Since a star turn off the bench in the 2015 World Cup final, Barrett, 27, has made the iconic No 10 shirt his own, ensuring Dan Carter has barely been missed. His transition from promising youth to fully fledged superstar has been so seamless that even Barrett has to remind himself that what he and his team are achieving simply is not normal.
“To me, being an All Black means following our dreams,” he says. “We grow up from a young age getting up at 3am to watch the All Blacks play South Africa or England, it’s part of who we are. So to be an All Black now is amazing.
“I still have to remind myself how special it is. It seems like just yesterday I was playing my first game against Ireland, full of energy and flying into tackles – even though I couldn’t tackle back then. It was the power of that black jersey, there is something about it.”
The All Blacks still have their routines, and Barrett grins as he recounts how debutants must wear
their new cap all night and are not allowed to refuse a beer if offered one at any point that evening. There have to be lighter moments for a side who many consider the most successful in world sport.
That status brings with it a pressure incomparable with any other I have seen in sport. “Losing sucks. It’s horrible,” Barrett says. “When you lose for the All Blacks it’s not a nice feeling. We have high standards and we know if we’ve let ourselves or let the jersey down.”
With Barrett in the No10 shirt, the All Blacks have reached a position where every victory is greeted with a shrug and any loss is dissected for weeks on end. That scrutiny increases ahead of titanic games, and is unlikely to let up as the clock counts down to the 2019 World Cup.
Barrett admits Japan is “at the back of your mind”, but will not allow himself to think too far beyond today.
He has a routine before every Test match and at around 2.30pm will take a few moments to look at his jersey and absorb what it means to him. “I’ll just feel it and look at it,” he says.
Barrett may be happy in the background off the pitch but, on it, all eyes will be on him.