'I knew I wasn't really in the top 50 rugby players': The circumstances that drove Jordie Barrett off the All Blacks path - then back onto it
Jordie Barrett is a prodigiously talented footballer. At just 20 years of age, he was thrust into the All Blacks line-up for his starting international debut against the British & Irish Lions and has continued to develop his game since.
Three years older and wiser now, Barrett has revealed that if circumstances had been a bit different, he would never have pulled on the black jersey for the historic series. He may, in fact, have given up on playing professional rugby altogether.
It’s well documented that Barrett’s from a family of exceptional sportsmen with older brothers Kane, Beauden and Scott all professional rugby players.
Their talents have largely been confined to the rugby field but Jordie and Beauden have also dabbled in cricket, with the two brothers some of Team Rugby’s best performers in the annual Black Clash.
Admittedly the likes of Stephen Fleming, Dan Vettori and Grant Elliot may not pull out all the stops in their annual battle with their rugby-playing rivals, but your average cricket player is still going to struggle coming up against some former (and current) greats of the code.
Jordie’s 2 wickets from 22 balls in the 2020 game matched Grant Elliot’s take, illustrating just how dab a hand the youngest Barrett brother is at the summer sport. That’s impressive return wasn’t just the result of a few games of cricket on the beach as a child, however. The game was never just a hobby for Jordie, it was something that he excelled in from a young age and seriously considered as a career option.
In fact, had things gone a bit differently, cricket may well have trumped rugby as Barrett’s professional sport of choice.
After high school, Barrett headed down to Lincoln University on a rugby scholarship but the oval football code wasn’t his main focus.
“That first year out of school, cricket was more my priority,” Barrett told RugbyPass.
“I was spending more time in the indoor nets down there at Lincoln University than I was in the gym.
“I was playing Central Districts Under 19s then, and I was giving the NZ Under 19s a red-hot crack because there was the World Cup at the end of the year.”
New Zealand cricket fans will be in tears and rugby fans will thanking their lucky stars at how things unfolded.
“Unfortunately, I missed out on their World Cup squad that went to Bangladesh,” Barrett said.
“I was a bit disappointed with that but, at the time, I probably wasn’t good enough anyway.
“But I played cricket all summer again and then went back down to Lincoln the next year.”
'The reason I’m happy to talk about this is because nothing will change if it’s not out there.'
Having battled back from cancer @nasi_manu is now out of contract in a locked-down Italy. But @JLyall93 finds out he has other things are on his mind ??https://t.co/BwJdHY1OmO
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 2, 2020
Barrett’s commitment to the summertime sport was probably in part due to the promise he’d shown at high school. While he’d been a handy rugby player, his skills didn’t compare to what he could do on the cricket pitch.
In fact, despite making his All Blacks debut at just 20, the Francis Douglas Memorial College alumnus was overlooked completely for the New Zealand Secondary Schools side in 2014.
“To tell you the truth, I was a skinny white battler [at high school],” Barrett admitted.
“I could kick a ball but I still hadn’t had my growth spurt by then. I was only six-foot and playing first five and I would’ve been nowhere near in the frame of New Zealand schools so that wasn’t a tough pill to swallow.
“I knew I wasn’t really in the top 50 rugby players in New Zealand, at that stage, and that’s just when I was just enjoying my cricket.”
Being overlooked for the New Zealand Under 19 cricket side in 2014 changed things for the ‘white battler’, however, with rugby benefitting from the snubbing.
“At the start of 2016, I played prems for Lincoln University as well as Crusaders Knights at the start of the season,” Barrett said.
“And then, that was the same year as the Under 20s, and Razor was head coach and he picked me for that, and then picked me in this Canterbury Mitre 10 side so that’s basically where it all started.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
“It was like a fairy tale – but without the happy ending”
– @TomVinicombe takes notes as @LimaSopoaga, the former @allblacksrugby player, dives deep in the circumstances of his switch to @WaspsRugby in 2018https://t.co/lOXUDZWfN4— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 28, 2020
Barrett’s Under 20s didn’t have their most successful season ever, finishing in 5th place, but his first and only stint with Canterbury later that season ended in a Premiership title.
From there, the Hurricanes came calling, and a year later, Barrett was running out in the black jersey to take on the British and Irish Lions.
It was a whirlwind journey that may never have happened if Barrett had made that Under 19 World Cup or completely pushed rugby to the side and focussed on just the one sport – which many people had suggested to him.
“It was a funny one because I was getting told by a lot of people from the respective codes that you’ve gotta start choosing, gotta start specializing in one,” said Barrett.
“My parents, the whole time, they just keep saying, nah you don’t have to commit to anyone – just keep playing both sports for as long as possible and then whatever happens, happens.
“Basically, that’s all it was. It happened that I didn’t make the Under 19 World Cup squad and then I made Under 20s for rugby the next year and I didn’t really have a chance to go back to cricket the next summer so it just worked out that way.”
Cricket’s loss is rugby’s gain, of course, and the 23-year-old already has 17 international matches under his belt – including his starting debut against the Lions and five games at last year’s World Cup in Japan.
It’s easy to forget how young the talented footballer is, given how long he’s been floating around the professional scene, but there’s still plenty of time for the utility back to develop into a world-class player – a player that we may never have seen the best of if he’d been snapped up New Zealand Under 19 cricket team in 2016.
Comments on RugbyPass
Well where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to comments