'Never know': All Blacks first-five gives retirement hint after emotional Test

You could forgive All Blacks first-five Beauden Barrett for being slightly emotional ahead of the second Test against France in his home part of the world in Wellington, alongside his brother Jordie.

Barrett has played a lot of rugby in the capital, for the Hurricanes, and for the All Blacks in his 136-Test match career that has spanned 13 years.

The All Blacks first-five had a huge part to play in the second Test in Wellington, one in which he was visibly emotional, having been seen crying during the national anthems before the match.

Barrett was also part of one of the game’s biggest controversies, in the 19th minute, where referee Christophe Ridley deemed the first-five to have “illegally knocked the ball down” on the back of a France line break.

When asked about what he was feeling pregame, Barrett was surprised the travelling French journalist noticed his emotion.

“Oh, did you notice? Yes, oh, no, it is emotional,” Barrett told reporters in Wellington.

“I guess I never really know when it’s going to be my last Test, so, yeah, every time I get the chance to play, especially with a brother on my side, that gets me emotional.

Barrett also admits that as he gets older, it’s harder to prepare and get ready for a Test match.

“So it takes a lot of effort these days to play Test rugby.”

The 34-year-old admits that the specific things that the All Blacks worked on during the week were definitely improved on in the second Test in Wellington.

“Yeah, I think the areas we highlighted in the review were improved on and trained and focused on this week.

“So that’s always pleasing, obviously there’s always parts of the game that we will look to improve on going forward, but things like the tackle off our offensive breakdown certainly opened up some opportunities for us.”

Fixture

Internationals

New Zealand

29 - 19

Full-time

France

All Stats and Data

The All Blacks got some reward for pinning France deep inside their half through some in-play kicking, which is something Barrett believes helped them keep the pressure on.

“Yeah, that was an area where we looked at turning them around, and I guess that’s how they like to play also. So, yeah, it was tricky conditions out there, conditions that I’m very used to, so I really enjoyed tonight.

“I think I mean in terms of performance, I thought we started a lot better, and we managed to keep the pressure on.
“So, whether it was the team or just the performance, I’m not too sure, but I know that we improved.”