THE BARRETTS HAVE strong connections to Ireland but Jordie grew up learning about most of them second hand.
Kevin and Robyn Barrett moved their young family from New Zealand to Ireland at the turn of the millennium. Jordie, one of eight Barrett children, has the photographs but not the memories.
“Can’t remember a thing,” says Leinster’s newest recruit.
“I was around four years of age at the time, but there’s a family affinity to Ireland and to County Meath and Oldcastle. Dad played for the Buccaneers for a couple of years and we were living on a farm, six of us kids at the time and two more added after that.
“So there’s that connection there, and over the next wee while we’ll try to head up and spend some time with some family friends, we’ve a lot here so it’s been really positive. From the minute I signed people were reaching out, so it’s been great.”
Three of those eight Barrett children – Jordie, Beauden and Scott – went on to be capped by the All Blacks. Barrett feels the key ingredients to their success were formed on those formative years on the family farm on New Zealand’s North Island, just south of New Plymouth.
“We’re from a rural community, mum and dad worked very hard and taught us as kids if you want something, you have to work hard for it and we were brought up that way.
“And in certain ways we were never really pushed or driven into ‘Go play rugby!’ and ‘You need to be an All Black!
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Barrett has been capped 67 times by New Zealand. Ken Sutton / INPHO
Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO
“We were brought up well, sent to school, got a good opportunity at boarding school at Francis Douglas, we were made to work hard and learn some discipline. Not once I remember coming off a footy field and mom or dad would say, ‘Oh, why don’t you do that?’
“One thing Mum steered us into was she always said, ‘Look, if you want to be good at sport and you want to enjoy it, you’re gonna have to be fit.’
The only thing she forced us into was she’d pick us up from school, grab our bags, give us a pair of running shoes and get us to run home. That might have put us in decent stead. From the top of the road it was 3.5k, so for a 10 or 11-year-old it’s a decent run.”
Barrett has quickly settled into his new surroundings. Tadhg Furlong picked him up from Dublin Airport last month and just a few days later he was running water for Leinster’s URC win at Ulster. The following weekend he was sprung from the bench to make an instant impact as Leinster pulled clear in Bristol.
The 27-year-old, who is signed with Leinster until the end of the season, admits it’s been a stress-free bedding-in period since arriving from the Hurricanes.
“I mean the transition has happened a little bit easier or seamless than I’d probably imagined, particularly after the first two or three days.
“If you can imagine going from the Hurricanes and the All Blacks, two different playbooks in terms of terminology and then trying to learn a whole another language with Leinster – I’m talking rugby language – it’s the hardest thing. It’s all good and well learning it and memorising it from a book, but you need to be able to use it in a practical sense on the field.
Barrett ran water in the URC win at Ulster. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“You got a split second to tell the guy next to you what you want out of him and so that’s been the hardest thing, but every single day on the pitch helps. So I feel like I’m growing in that space, which is nice, and being familiar with other players, one on one and in a personal sense, also helps.
“So building those relationships, I’ve tried to do that in the first two weeks that I’m here.”
The 67-time All Black has been struck by how smoothly things run around the training facility.
“Impressive. Obviously to their core, like fundamentally good people, with good values and I enjoy what the club stands for. It’s been a nice introduction these couple of weeks, I know it’s a small sample size, but I’ve enjoyed it so far.
“I guess just the simplicity of their weeks and basics and players and coaches, I guess just play rugby for rugby and it’s as simple as that. You can overcomplicate it sometimes and try to dig a whole lot deeper for a number of reasons but everyone’s well aligned.
“It helps when they’re familiar with each other, a deep squad played together internationally, a broad variety of coaches which helps, It’s good to get ‘intel’ from all over the world, so the simplicity at the moment has been, I guess, quite different. But that’s probably a reason why they’ve been so successful for a long time.”
It may be only be a short-term deal, but Barrett will be the box-office attraction in a Leinster team stacked with internationals. At 27 he feels his best rugby is still ahead of him, but he knows there is an expectation to deliver during his short time here.
“We’ve got ambitions in this club and that’s obviously with the end (of the season) in mind, that’s where we want to be at the end of the year.
“But seriously we’re just going from week to week, and look, we’ve got a great squad with great depth and great coaches and it would be amazing if we could do that (win trophies) at some stage. Time will tell.”
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'From the minute I signed people were reaching out, it's been great'
THE BARRETTS HAVE strong connections to Ireland but Jordie grew up learning about most of them second hand.
Kevin and Robyn Barrett moved their young family from New Zealand to Ireland at the turn of the millennium. Jordie, one of eight Barrett children, has the photographs but not the memories.
“Can’t remember a thing,” says Leinster’s newest recruit.
“I was around four years of age at the time, but there’s a family affinity to Ireland and to County Meath and Oldcastle. Dad played for the Buccaneers for a couple of years and we were living on a farm, six of us kids at the time and two more added after that.
“So there’s that connection there, and over the next wee while we’ll try to head up and spend some time with some family friends, we’ve a lot here so it’s been really positive. From the minute I signed people were reaching out, so it’s been great.”
Three of those eight Barrett children – Jordie, Beauden and Scott – went on to be capped by the All Blacks. Barrett feels the key ingredients to their success were formed on those formative years on the family farm on New Zealand’s North Island, just south of New Plymouth.
“We’re from a rural community, mum and dad worked very hard and taught us as kids if you want something, you have to work hard for it and we were brought up that way.
“And in certain ways we were never really pushed or driven into ‘Go play rugby!’ and ‘You need to be an All Black!
“We were brought up well, sent to school, got a good opportunity at boarding school at Francis Douglas, we were made to work hard and learn some discipline. Not once I remember coming off a footy field and mom or dad would say, ‘Oh, why don’t you do that?’
“One thing Mum steered us into was she always said, ‘Look, if you want to be good at sport and you want to enjoy it, you’re gonna have to be fit.’
Barrett has quickly settled into his new surroundings. Tadhg Furlong picked him up from Dublin Airport last month and just a few days later he was running water for Leinster’s URC win at Ulster. The following weekend he was sprung from the bench to make an instant impact as Leinster pulled clear in Bristol.
The 27-year-old, who is signed with Leinster until the end of the season, admits it’s been a stress-free bedding-in period since arriving from the Hurricanes.
“I mean the transition has happened a little bit easier or seamless than I’d probably imagined, particularly after the first two or three days.
“If you can imagine going from the Hurricanes and the All Blacks, two different playbooks in terms of terminology and then trying to learn a whole another language with Leinster – I’m talking rugby language – it’s the hardest thing. It’s all good and well learning it and memorising it from a book, but you need to be able to use it in a practical sense on the field.
“You got a split second to tell the guy next to you what you want out of him and so that’s been the hardest thing, but every single day on the pitch helps. So I feel like I’m growing in that space, which is nice, and being familiar with other players, one on one and in a personal sense, also helps.
“So building those relationships, I’ve tried to do that in the first two weeks that I’m here.”
The 67-time All Black has been struck by how smoothly things run around the training facility.
“Impressive. Obviously to their core, like fundamentally good people, with good values and I enjoy what the club stands for. It’s been a nice introduction these couple of weeks, I know it’s a small sample size, but I’ve enjoyed it so far.
“I guess just the simplicity of their weeks and basics and players and coaches, I guess just play rugby for rugby and it’s as simple as that. You can overcomplicate it sometimes and try to dig a whole lot deeper for a number of reasons but everyone’s well aligned.
“It helps when they’re familiar with each other, a deep squad played together internationally, a broad variety of coaches which helps, It’s good to get ‘intel’ from all over the world, so the simplicity at the moment has been, I guess, quite different. But that’s probably a reason why they’ve been so successful for a long time.”
It may be only be a short-term deal, but Barrett will be the box-office attraction in a Leinster team stacked with internationals. At 27 he feels his best rugby is still ahead of him, but he knows there is an expectation to deliver during his short time here.
“We’ve got ambitions in this club and that’s obviously with the end (of the season) in mind, that’s where we want to be at the end of the year.
“But seriously we’re just going from week to week, and look, we’ve got a great squad with great depth and great coaches and it would be amazing if we could do that (win trophies) at some stage. Time will tell.”
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Jordie Barrett Leinster Rugby