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'The bus was deadly silent': Beauden Barrett talks ruthless quarter-final edge
Reflecting on the All Blacks‘ quarter-final preparations, Beauden Barrett has offered some insight into what contributed to New Zealand’s most clinical performance in recent memory.
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Following in the footsteps of the great Dan Carter, who famously championed the “walk towards pressure” mantra, Barrett and the All Blacks have a powerful history of mental skills and performing under the brightest lights in the rugby world.
The man who has driven those mental skills for the past 23 years is Gilbert Enoka, with assistance from Ceri Evans since 2010. Now, in his final Rugby World Cup with the team, Enoka’s influence is as crucial as ever.
Four years of underwhelming results since a semi-final exit at the 2019 World Cup put huge pressure on the team to perform against the world number one ranked Ireland. Luckily for the All Blacks, pressure is Enoka’s bread and butter.
“So much goes into a week in terms of preparation and how well you do that, it’s evident on the weekend,” Barrett told The Front Row Daily Show.
“But, there’s certainly some gold nuggets with Ceri Evans and Gilbert Enoka in the mental space that was right on the money. With that, as well as the physical preparation, the boys were all in a good space going into the game. The bus was deadly silent and Gilbert has a good gauge on whether we’re in the house or not, and postgame he said he could feel it.
“That’s where we strive to get to every game day but it was win or go home, it’s do or die footy, there’s something about that as well and we wanted another week. So, here we are.”
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When Enoka started out with the All Blacks, he was assigned the job title of team masseur, a disguise for his true role which was as the team’s sports psychologist. The decoy title was employed because it was thought the use of a mental skills coach would project an inherent weakness in the team.
That stigma has since slowly eroded and sports psychology is now an essential component of any professional team.
Having earned a spot in the next round, the All Blacks are now shifting their focus to a familiar opponent in the semi-final.
“There’s still certainly a buzz around the camp. We’re kind of in that transition phase now. All eyes on (Argentina).
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“We’re just so grateful to be here and have another opportunity. It’s a final again for us, it’s win or pretty much go home so there’s a good buzz.
“We put so much into last week, a team that had scarred us in recent times so we felt like we needed to do it for ourselves to prove a point.”
Barrett made no secret of his desire for revenge against Ireland after the famous Steinlager Series loss last year, and following the quarter-final win the fullback emphasised the importance of celebrating the achievement before looking ahead.
Having fully digested the win, the All Blacks now find themselves ready to focus on the task at hand.
“It’s something we spoke about in the leadership meeting, it’s about genuinely resetting and identifying the threat that’s in our way this week, Argentina.
“We know what they can do, we felt that particularly in Christchurch last year. We know how passionate they are, we saw that in the Welsh game.
“They’re a team that have been under the radar but I think early in the week, we focus a lot on our detail but that’s also defensive detail so understanding what they bring, their threats, they are real threats, they’re genuine.
“And it’s a short turnaround so it’s a busy couple of days getting that prep but late on in the week we just want to dump and play footy.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Hard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
2 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
2 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
237 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to comments