'He's certainly the man for England, I’d be shocked if he weren’t'
Brad Barritt went all quiet on RugbyPass when asked to name the one player he most liked playing with during his stellar career. “Just one player?” he queried before an uncomfortable silence ensued. Sixteen seconds passed before the conflicted former England and Saracens midfielder offered an apology. “Sorry, you really put me on the spot,” he deflected before embarking on another momentary hush while he scrambled for a seemingly elusive answer.
Eventually, it arrived. “Manu Tuilagi,” he beamed. “We had two years (together) in the England team, an exceptional talent, an exceptional player and someone that is respected amongst his peers and his opponents. As a 13 he was someone I loved playing with in an England context. From a club level, there were too many to choose from. But he was my favorite England partner.”
Barritt was a starter in 23 of the 28 Test caps he earned, all during the Stuart Lancaster era, and Tuilagi was his most regular partner. They paired up eleven times, considerably more than his other combos (Owen Farrell 3, Billy Twelvetrees 3, Jonathan Joseph 3, Kyle Eastmond 2, Sam Burgess 1).
The struggle Barritt had in picking just a single favourite player followed his wish not to select a Dream Team XV consisting of teammates from his many years soldiering with Saracens and, before that, the Sharks. “It would be very difficult and also it is not in my personality to favour any friend.”
Why? “Because during a period of time, different people would be very strong candidates and it depends on the context of the team we are going to play. Are you going to beat a team by 50 points or are you going to win a do-or-die challenge? That is part of the context that needs to be put.”
The much safer footing on which the Zoom call began centred on Barritt and his exploits after rugby. It was September 2020 when the boots were shelved, the Saracens skipper going out on his shield in a frustrating Heineken Champions Cup semi-final loss at Racing. Since then, Cape Town has become his home.
He now works as managing director for Pollinate, a company creating bank-deployed digital tools for small businesses around the world. Tiki Tonga Coffee Roasters, the enterprise he co-founded while still a player, is also still excelling. “I count myself very grateful,” he enthused on a sunny South African Wednesday morning.
“I was encouraged from a very early age to pursue opportunities outside of sport, so I’m very grateful for my parents and my support network. I did a masters in business management whilst in the UK, set up various small businesses while playing – one of which is thriving today. We have Tiki Tonga Coffee Roasters both in the UK and here in South Africa.
“But also at the culmination of my career I was given an incredible opportunity to help spearhead a UK fintech company that wanted to expand into South African territory. Pollinate International is in the payment space that works with global tier-one banks and I have been working with the team for two-and-a-half years.
“It has been great in terms of allowing me to give my kids the childhood that I was exposed to, to be amongst aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, have a bit more family support for them but in equal respect, I still having that strong connection to the UK and working with the UK team. I sort of go back every three, four months to realign with HQ there.”
All the while, Barritt’s body has reacted nicely to no longer being a rugby player. The now 36-year-old has taken up the sport of padel and won’t risk a golden oldies rugby appearance for fear that his remodelled nose might suffer a bang. “My new passion is a sport called padel, a hybrid of tennis and squash, played on half the side of a tennis court with perspex – it’s a huge sort of boom sport in South Africa.
“It’s something that I have really taken a strong liking to and it has thankfully allowed me to slightly resemble a centre and not a hooker. My body is very happy. The one big surgery I had to have was a full nose reconstruction in December 2020.
“I’d an 11-and-a-half-hour operation to repair my septum and my sinuses. I had a rhinoplasty, had to have specialist turbinate surgery. Thankfully, now I can breathe perfectly and it slightly resembles what it looked like when I was maybe 14,” he chuckled.
Tiki Tonga Run – 1st Edition
Rondebosch – Cape TownCommunity, Coffee & Conversation
We are a brand inspire by sport & striving to bring people together ?? ? pic.twitter.com/557aK3o1jT
— Tiki Tonga Coffee SA (@tikitonga_sa) November 26, 2022
How long had he soldiered during his rugby career with the issue? “I’d two previous surgeries, an initial operation in 2006 which was a sinuplasty, my sinuses were effectively crushed and started to cave in. That repaired it, and it was then subsequently repaired around 2011.
“I always knew it was a thing I needed to have done but all the surgeons said, ‘When you do it, it has to be definitive’. It’s maybe the one thing keeping me on the sidelines from any old crock’s games, that I can’t go through that pain of surgery on my nose again.”
What has Barritt on the laptop from the southern hemisphere is this weekend’s Gallagher Premiership semi-finals, a four-team line-up that unsurprisingly features Saracens who will host Northampton in London on Saturday. The retired 12-season Sarries veteran last saw his old club live in person at last year’s final, a decider that had the sting in the tail of Freddie Burns’ decisive last-gasp drop goal.
“I came over; a fantastic game. Great to see the two dominant English powerhouses back in the final with Leicester and Saracens. It was quite strange having Steve Borthwick coaching the Leicester team as he was my first captain at Saracens as well as two former colleagues, Chris Ashton and Richard Wigglesworth, spearheading that Leicester team. You have to give them credit – on the day they were the better team and we may very likely see those two teams go head-to-head again in a few weeks’ time.”
Special to be back at HQ yesterday. Proud of the @Saracens team & whilst it hurts, I know it will drive standards even higher in the years to come.
Congratulations to Steve, @EllisGenge & the @LeicesterTigers team, richly deserved! Special mention to evergreen @rwiggy9 !
— Brad Barritt (@bradbarritt) June 19, 2022
If Saracens make it, it would be their eighth league showpiece appearance at Twickenham with Mark McCall at the helm as director of rugby. Barritt can’t say enough about his former mentor. “Mark is an incredible figure at Saracens,” he gushed. “He has a relentless dedication to his role and that really has filtered down through the other coaching staff and into the playing group.
“One of the best attributes about Mark is there is no ego; everything he does is to push the team forward to make sure the team is in a better position week after week. Another strength is utilising the skill set of the coaches he has working with him, as well as a very experienced player group, allowing them the opportunity to collaborate, share and shine in equal capacity. He has been a galvanising force and has been driving that for a long period of time. Saracens are hugely grateful.”
Is there one McCall pep talk that still stands out in Barritt’s mind? “My last Premiership final,” he said, recalling the dramatic 2019 comeback win over Exeter. “The week before I pulled up before half-time (28 minutes in versus Gloucester), pulled my hamstring quite considerably. There was just a backing from Mark in the early stages of that final week, ‘Listen, if you feel you are ready, we all back you, we want you here, you go as long as you go and the team will support you’.
“Inevitably, against medical advice, I just went ahead with it, played the game. I played maybe 45, 50 minutes, and it was just that confidence and support that both Mark and the player group gave, saying, ‘We want you on the pitch. We realise there may be something missing, but we know your character. You go out there and do your thing. We are blessed to have a fantastic squad, so we can make it happen’. That obviously is just one instance that I’m very grateful for.”
????? ?? ??? ??????.
Don't miss a minute of our 2??3??/2??4?? campaign!
Here are a few reasons why you'll want to get ???? seat booked ?#YourSaracens?
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) April 13, 2023
It’s the sort of enlightened husbandry that Saracens skipper Farrell is now the likely beneficiary of at the age of 31 following his difficult Guinness Six Nations with England, a campaign affected by some scratchy kicking and his high-profile demotion to the bench versus France despite being the team skipper.
Barritt, who coincidently made his England debut versus Scotland in 2012 in a midfield partnership with Farrell, is backing his Saracens pal to bounce back and go on to lead his country at the Rugby World Cup as the starting No10 in Borthwick’s team. “Owen has proved he is a force of nature over a long period of time,” he surmised.
“He has that application to task and dedication to his craft, he is a great student of the game – he looks to improve not only his performance but also the team’s performance, is deeply analytical around how things can be moved forward, how the games can be refereed, how the laws allow the game to be a bit more free-flowing.
“With the advent of the 50:22, you have seen that development of Saracens’ attacking game and the risk-taking approach has been spearheaded by Mark, Owen and the greater collective group. He has always had a really strong conversion to be the best version of himself and he has the respect of anyone who has played with and continues to play with him for the way he carries himself. He sets very high standards.
Honoured to have been joined by these 3 legends on stage for my farewell Testimonial Event. pic.twitter.com/zRkrewHVz1
— Brad Barritt (@bradbarritt) October 19, 2021
“He is an incredibly resilient guy,” continued Barritt, referencing Farrell’s tricky recent Six Nations. “Despite that being a difficult period, he would have taken it on the chin, would have absorbed it, learned from it, and ultimately what transpired was Owen being put back to where he probably feels most comfortable [out-half] and where he has played the majority of his rugby.
“He is the man who likes to take on the responsibilities of running and dictating an attack as well as spearheading it from the front. Sometimes in international rugby, these things happen [getting dropped]. Very few guys go 10-plus years in a career being favoured every week.
“That is also a great strength for the Premiership; there is an abundance of talent to pick from, but Owen had proved over a long period of time that he does it on the big stage and has the consistency to perform – he is certainly the man for England (at the World Cup). I’d be shocked if he weren’t.”
When Barritt exited Saracens, they were in a state of flux and grappling with the unknown – automatic relegation to the Championship. Mediocrity could have set in, but they refused to faff about as the culture that had evolved under McCall across the previous decade kept them focused and positive. That attitude has since restored them to the upper echelons of the English game.
THANK YOU ? pic.twitter.com/lrPgKKAR0X
— Brad Barritt (@bradbarritt) October 4, 2020
“Culture is also an evolution, something that doesn’t stand still. Similar to a playing style, it evolves, it morphs, it changes its way. Fundamentally where Saracens flipped it on its head was previously, prior to that evolution and culture, players came with an air of anxiety of maybe not necessarily wanting it – they did their job and they left.
“The way in which Saracens harnessed that collective approach of guys genuinely being excited to get to the club every day to work hard, to drive standards forward, it wasn’t a pigeon-holed, robotic-type atmosphere. There was constant engagement, shuffling things.
“An Alex Sanderson or one of the groups would put on a presentation just to really raise the emotional energy; the opportunity to play football for 10, 15 minutes before a really pivotal training session and to just be able to flip the switch on and off. That has really been a strong strength of Saracens – we enjoy the good times but when the opportunity to flip the switch came and to focus and dedicate yourself to your craft, the team and the collective culture were strong enough to do that.”
- BT Sport is the home of Gallagher Premiership Rugby. Watch exclusive live coverage of both semi-finals on BT Sport this weekend, including Saracens v Northampton Saints on BT Sport 2 from 3pm on Saturday. Sale Sharks v Leicester Tigers is live on BT Sport 1 from 2:30pm on Sunday. Visit btsport.com/rugby
Comments on RugbyPass
Had hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
6 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
28 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
83 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
83 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
4 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
28 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
4 Go to commentspure fire
1 Go to commentsA very well thought out summary of all the relevant complications…agree with your ”refer the Cricket Test versus 20/20 comparison”. More also definitely doesn't necessarily mean better!
4 Go to commentsMust be something when you are only 19 y.o and both NZ and France want you. Btw he wasn’t the only new caledonian in french U20 as Robin Couly also lived in Noumea until 17. Hope he’s successful wherever he chooses to play.
13 Go to comments“Several key players in the Stade Rochelais squad are in their thirties” South Africans are going to hate the implications of that comment!
6 Go to commentsI know Leinster did a job on La Roche but shortly after HT Leinster were 30-13 ahead of them and at a similar time Toulouse were trailing Exeter. At 60 mins Leinster were 27 ahead but after 67 mins Toulouse were only 19 ahead before Exeter collapsed. That’s heavier scoring by Leinster against the Champions. I think people are looking at Toulouses total a little too much. I also think Northhampton are in with a real chance, albeit I’d put Leinster as favourites. If Leinster make the final I expect them to win by more than ten and with control.
6 Go to commentsHey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂
6 Go to commentsNot sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
28 Go to comments