The Making Of A Legend

From his early childhood rugby aspirations in the backyard with his brothers, Beauden Barrett has made a beeline for success. Since his provincial debut for Taranaki in 2010 at 19 and his All Blacks Test debut 2 years later, Beauden has cemented himself as one of our rugby greats. His lightning speed, precise kick and ball handling is almost freakish – even when watched back in slow motion.

We talked to Beauden about his journey from backyard to world stage, Rugby in the age of Covid and the power of the All Black Legacy.

Obviously there’s a lot of pivots happening everywhere in different sectors and different businesses. We have the once-in-a-generation North vs South game. How do you think rugby will be shaped moving forward from this time?

It’s a perfect opportunity to rethink schedules and competitions. Given the holt on rugby globally, I’m sure the likes of World Rugby have been trying to come up with plans to make the game a little bit more global, from an ongoing season point of view.

The challenge is always going to be players agreeing with what World Rugby wants to do from a commercial point of view. Obviously you have to weigh up the travel and things like that.

I’m hopeful that we can agree on something soon because we’ve typically been rolling through. We’d always play a Rugby Championship or a Tri-Nations and then only go up to the North at the end of our season to finish off before the summer.

It would be great to play, even club competition, a little bit more globally. But obviously it has to be scheduled very cleverly and equally, so that there’s no advantage for the Northern Hemisphere over the South. As players, it’s quite exciting because I know there is plenty of talk on making a global club competition.

There’s been so much momentum in your career, how does it feel now you’ve had a chance to step back a little bit?

Yes, we certainly have had to do that. At the start of the year, I had a four or five months break, as agreed when I re-signed with New Zealand Rugby for four more years. So it seems like I haven’t actually played a lot of footy this year.

I just can’t wait to get into it because I’ve had a lot of time to think and dwell on the past and so on, but I’m so motivated and excited and passionate about being a better player and a better person.

Speaking of dwelling on the past, as part of your role as a Tudor ambassador, you featured in a Born to Dare video, where you spoke about the moments that have shaped your career so far. Is there a particular moment that you think has really defined you?

There certainly hasn’t been one moment as such. For me personally, I’ve always been encouraged to express myself and not be afraid of making a mistake and I’ve really hung my hat on that.

To become the player that I want to be, I know I’m not going to do it by being perfect. I am going to have some failures along the way, but it’s always going to be because I’m trying to do things extremely well and with that, sometimes they won’t come off, but most of the time they should and will.

It’s all about being thrown out of my comfort zone because I’m not going to improve if I’m just happy or satisfied on what I’ve done before and that’s not necessarily going to work going forward. I have to keep putting myself out there.

In New Zealand, we seem to have a thing about failure. But you have to embrace it in a way to really push yourself out there.

Thankfully I’ve been supported by coaches who have encouraged me, not to be reckless, but to back myself and who support me if I try something that is either expansive or optimistic or outrageous, and it might not come off, but at least I’m daring or trying to do that. I’m backing myself.

I’m backing my instincts, versus a player who has the burden of a coach who’s going to tell them off. I’m lucky to have been exposed to coaches who support that and realise that it’s just the way that I play and it’s probably when I play my best. Most people are the same.

Watching that video and seeing some of those slow motion passes and the way you are with the ball, it doesn’t seem real. Some of those would have started as an outrageous idea, but just in that moment, it’s perfection.

It’s around feeling free to express myself on the field and by Saturday, I want to be feeling light, bright and clear. That’s how I want to arrive on Saturday night when I play my footy. I’m feeling light physically, my brain is on, I’m feeling really bright and alert and clear on my game plan, to the point where I’m just almost out there being instinctive, seeing and doing.
Obviously a lot of work goes on from the Monday through to arriving at the game. There’s a point where you just park it and trust that you’ve done the work, go out there and enjoy it.

How would you sum up the meaning of the Tudor Born To Dare concept?

To me, it’s being courageous to express myself and that is shown through actions on the field, it’s shown through courageous discussions with my teammates. That’s me not holding back and not being afraid to pull the trigger on certain plays or certain things.

What’s your favorite TUDOR to watch?

The GMT. It’s got the red and blue, half and half.

What advice would you give to your 10 year old self?

Not to get too caught up on what others think of you. Still to this day, I probably care too much about the little things and what I can’t control and often that could be people’s opinions.

Being able to live freely with fewer cares in the world, don’t let people’s opinions bog you down or slow you down. It’s none of your business what people think of you.

Do you feel like you’ve got the weight of a country on your shoulders?

I wouldn’t say I’ve got a country of weight on my shoulders. I feel a lot of responsibility is on my shoulders. To be someone who young kids look up to, not just kids, but everyone. Everyone’s waiting for someone in my position to slip up or do the wrong thing so they can quickly pull you in line and make an example of you.

I feel a responsibility to always be doing the right thing. But if I do feel something is not PC, but I really believe in it, then I will stand my ground on it. Because it is important, I’m afraid where the world is going in that regard.

It does frighten me some of that, where you’ve got to be so careful about what you say. I feel like we’ve gone a bit too far.

I just don’t know who makes a lot of these decisions on what’s right and wrong, but I think that’s gone a little bit too far and I think basic common sense needs to prevail. I think it’s important for people in our position to continue to be real.

I think there is a fair amount of tradition that needs to be remembered and upheld. We can’t just not forget what’s gone before us. It’s just something that I’m conscious of and being in a position of responsibility, I’m not always a ‘yes’ man.

Going back to your All Black’s debut in 2012, can you talk about that moment as you were about to walk out onto the field?

Yeah, it is fresh. I ran onto the field off the bench relatively early in the game because of an injury. We were playing Ireland and I went on and played a lot of the game, maybe 50 odd minutes and it just went like that. It was a high scoring match, it might’ve been 60 odd to not much, maybe nil.

It just went so quick and I just remember flying into tackles, feeling like I had Superman’s cape on. It was the black jersey, it gave me all this energy and power that I hadn’t felt before. Capping ceremony followed on after that and I had to keep our cap on for the entire night and had a few beers to enjoy the occasion.

There is a really big mental component to the game. Can you talk about that as well?

All week, I was preparing as if I was starting because on the bench, you never know if you’re going to get on in the first minute due to injury or whether you might not get on at all. It is an emotional roller coaster, so being able to stay calm throughout the time that I was on the bench, and for many games after when I was coming off the bench, it was so important for me.

Just being ready, learning from the game that has been going on in front of me and understanding how I’m going to add impact when I come on and play the game that the team needs. Just being ready was huge.

Keeping it quite simple, not feeling cluttered, having two or three plays in the back of my mind that will be my go-to plays. I don’t want to over-complicate things, I just wanted to get out there and play footy.

The discipline that goes into the fitness side and then your performance on the field, does that spill off into real life as well? Do you notice that it starts to influence how you are as a person?

Yeah, totally. If you can’t have a little bit of self discipline at home, it will infiltrate into your training, into other environments. It’s just there. It’s because you don’t quite nail it at that moment there. If you do that, it’s easy to say ‘no’ down the track, but it is a flow on effect.

It is so important to have balance and understand when there’s a time to treat yourself, have a few beers. But yeah, certainly around taking shortcuts in training, that’s just a non-negotiable for me, unless there’s an injury and you’re going to risk further injury. I’m all about work hard, play hard. I enjoy my food, I enjoy a few beers, I’m all about earning it. It’s far more enjoyable when you know that you’ve earned it.

People will always talk about the new generation and their work ethic and approach. Do you notice a shift with the new people through?

I do see a mixed bag. But what I’m attracted to is the highly motivated people and it’s quite infectious. I am inspired by that and I like to surround myself with people like that, rather than ones who aren’t so motivated. I think it is important to have a great life balance and as long as you’re not blowing it at both ends, you have to be conscious of keeping a good overall holistic life balance.

And in terms of surrounding yourself with highly motivated people, have you got a sense of how different Japan will be too?

It’ll be a significant change and a culture shock, but I’m really looking forward to that. I just love the culture up there. It’s one of respect, really hard work. The Japanese do know how to work.

I enjoyed my time up there for the World Cup and previous times that I’ve played footy up there, so having six months with my wife and newborn, it’s quite exciting because it’s a new rugby environment and a new city. Living in Tokyo, a huge city, I’m pretty excited about that and meeting new people, learning a new language and getting a taste for Japanese footy.

Have you seen a different playing style?

From what I’ve seen, it’s quite a quick, free flowing game. What I’ve admired when watching the Japanese play at the World Cup and at other international games and the club game, is this skill set is really, really sharp and they do play a quick, free flowing game.

When you play Australian teams, they’re all about speed of ball. You know you’re in for a quick game when you play the likes of the Waratahs or the Reds, it’s really quick. I think it would be quite similar to that. Not so combative, but they will put some shots on, they like to go low and hard at the knees.

Last year, Jordie [Barrett] shared that photo in the changing room, with the caption “Living a childhood dream.” Was it always a given that this dream would become a reality?

To say that it was always going to happen would be somewhat – gosh, I don’t know the words for this. We only ever ran around on the back lawn pretending to be Christian Cullen, Andrew Mehrtens and the like. We dreamt it could happen, but we never thought it would.

It was more realistic seeing ourselves play for Taranaki because we saw dad play for Taranaki. We thought maybe if we grew up to be as big as him one day, then we might have a chance to play, but it was just incomprehensible.

We couldn’t get our heads around it as a kid. We could only dream, we just loved playing footy. We lived in that moment and enjoyed watching the All Blacks on TV and doing the haka. I was so proud when firstly Scott was named an All Black and then Jordie.

It was certainly not an expectation but a super proud achievement for me personally, but also for me as a big brother, seeing them come through.

There must be some secret sauce though, right? How do you produce such sporting excellence out of one family?

It’s dad’s organic milk, straight from the farm [laughs]. There is no secret recipe. Obviously our genes are pretty decent. Luckily, we have athletic parents. We were encouraged, or pushed in some cases, to get outside and get away from the TV.

We spent a lot of time outside, whether it was running around, kicking the ball around or on the motorbikes. We were fortunate to grow up on a dairy farm with so much space and land around us.
Also we had so many opportunities to be involved in various sports, to realise what we’re actually into and passionate about and probably good at, and rugby was the more obvious one. Jordie was equally as good at cricket, so he had options. But we’re very fortunate for our upbringing.

Obviously we are driven, we had to work hard once we got to a certain point where representative rugby was a goal of ours at the time. Once we got a taste for it, there was always something more that we could aim and strive for. Whether it was me following [older brother] Kane, that was something I always did. As the second oldest, Kane was always a very dominant rugby player.

He played two years for New Zealand Secondary Schools. He was a tough and formidable loose forward and then he had to give up the game because of concussion. I was always striving to keep up with him and so for Scott, he was probably striving to keep up with me and so on. There was always something for us to be striving for, to be better or never feeling satisfied or content. But there’s certainly not one recipe.

Because you have achieved so much already, do you feel satisfied? Or is there always something else?

No. Gosh, it only takes one bad pass or one bad kick or the missed tackle to go from here to here for me. I know that I’ll never be perfect, but I’m striving for that. There will be a point in my career where I’ll be pretty satisfied and I’ll know that time’s probably up and I’ve given it all that I can. I’m a long way off that.

Is there any advice that you would have for parents who want to be able to cultivate the foundation for success and excellence, but without being overbearing?

Mum and dad certainly weren’t pushy when it came to rugby. Dad played rugby for the Hurricanes and Taranaki, but he never pushed me to only play rugby. He was never that pushy parent on the sideline. He’d help out with referring and coaching, but he wouldn’t be an outspoken or abusive person on the sideline.

He was quietly encouraging and I think it’s important to be that as a parent. Sometimes you have to be a little bit pushy I think because at the end of the day we’re kids, we do get attracted to the Playstation and TV screens, so we do need to be shoved out the door at times and given a rugby ball.

But, we’re grateful to have options of various sporting codes depending on the seasons to play, whether it’s at school or for a club. I guess there’s no one answer when it comes to the sport. Be open minded about it. It could be an instrument, you never know what your child’s talent may be.

What is an All Blacks legacy to you?

For me, it’s all about what you do in the black jersey. You can talk a big game, you can be everything, but people only remember what you do in the black jersey and ultimately that’s the legacy that you’ll leave.

I remember those few moments, whether it’s a Bledisloe Cup victory, or a World Cup victory. Ultimately, it comes down to your time in the black Jersey, what you do, it’s only borrowed time. It’s not guaranteed, so you’ve just got to make the most of it and enjoy it.

Top image by Graeme Murray