Why Jordie Barrett turned down the Crusaders: 'Sitting down in the room with him was like walking down to the principal's office'
When it came time for Jordie Barrett to make a decision about where he wanted to play Super Rugby, it’s fair to say that the talented Taranaki-man could have picked any side in New Zealand and been welcomed with open arms.
Off the back of some excellent performances for the New Zealand Under 20 side in 2016 and half a season of Mitre 10 Cup, Barrett was a hot product. Already, the world had seen what older brother Beauden was capable of and the rumours were that Jordie was an even more promising talent.
The Chiefs and Crusaders chased Barrett’s signature hard but it was the Hurricanes who won out in the end – despite Barrett enjoying a stellar season playing alongside brother Scott at Canterbury. Canterbury head honcho Scott Robertson had also been Barrett’s coach with the Under 20s but that wasn’t enough to keep the up-and-coming talent in Christchurch.
It did make the youngest Barrett brother’s decision incredibly difficult, however.
“I’d just finished the season playing with Scott in the Mitre 10 Cup with Canterbury and I’d enjoyed that massively so it was bloody hard telling him that I wanted to go play for the Canes,” Barrett told RugbyPass.
“But now that I think about it, Razor was actually the toughest conversation. Sitting down in the room with him was like walking down to the principal’s office and telling him I’d done something wrong but in the end, it was just a decision I made and the reason it was so hard is because we had such a good relationship.
“He taught me so much through the couple of years that I’d been down in Canterbury and the hard thing about going back to Wellington was I knew certain skills that Razor had, I was going to lose in that way. In saying that, I knew I was going up to some good coaches with Boydie [Former Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd] and John Plumtree and a lot of good players in Wellington.
“There were a couple of other reasons behind it. I was 19 at the stage and, to be honest, I was kind of still fanboying the Hurricanes. They’re the team I grew up supporting my whole life and if I’d known at 10 years old that I would have the opportunity to play for the Canes, I would have taken it just like that.
Playing for the Hurricanes would also give Barrett the opportunity to link up with Beauden while being based in Wellington would mean Barrett was closer to the family in Taranaki.
“It’s a little bit closer to home. I enjoy, when I’ve got a couple of days off, driving back up to the Naki to the farm and spending some time at home so that was another big reason for it.”
Of course, the Taranaki region has been aligned with the Chiefs since 2013, not the Hurricanes – but that change of allegiances hasn’t quite been adopted by the slightly older locals.
“It’s a bit bizarre,” Barrett admitted regarding Taranaki’s new ties. “When I was a wee ticker, everyone was running around in Hurricanes shorts and Hurricanes jerseys but now it’s a different generation. All the young kids are running around in Chiefs jerseys and you feel like you’re not at home anymore.
“There’s a good number still supporting the Canes – the loyal ones,” Barrett joked.
Only a select group of men get the chance to don the #AllBlacks' 11 &10 jerseys – fewer still get the chance to wear both.
Jordie Barrett revealed to @TomVinicombe the moment he realised how important the number on your back is when you're playing for NZ.https://t.co/u32WecYgJZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 21, 2020
“I think at the start, when it was fresh, there was a wee bit of conflict, but I think it’s long enough down the track now that people just got used to it. Especially the way Super Rugby’s going, nowadays you’ve got people from all different provinces. It doesn’t seem to worry people too much anymore – normally only in the weeks where two franchises play each other.”
Barrett inked a new contract with New Zealand Rugby last year that will keep him in the country until the next World Cup in 2023 but had the option to part ways with the Hurricanes following this year’s Super Rugby season.
“Last year when, there was still a little bit of uncertainty when I signed, just with Scott being in Christchurch and Beaudie in Auckland,” Barrett said. “I just wanted to give myself flexibility to, I guess, do what I wanted if I had a change of heart and by having that clause in my contract, it allows me that.
“With this COVID thing going on, you just don’t know what’s going to happen next year, what the competition is going to look like, so it just gives you a bit of room to move.
“It doesn’t mean I’ll put any less into the Hurricanes, where I’m playing at the moment, it just gives me that flexibility at the back end.”
That out-clause hasn’t amounted to much, however, with one of Super Rugby Aotearoa’s players of the season choosing to re-commit to the Hurricanes just last week.
Brother Beauden, of course, won’t be playing for the Blues next season. Instead, the former World Rugby Player of the Year will be representing Suntory Sungoliath in Japan. Jordie never gave any serious thought to saying farewell to New Zealand’s shores at this early stage of his career, however.
“Obviously there’s a lot of money overseas and people have different priorities. I just thought, I was 22 years old last year, so it wasn’t a priority for me at this stage and I wanted to stay in New Zealand.”
The 23-year-old is growing with every game and has plenty to offer New Zealand rugby. The best is certainly still to come from the young utility back. The All Blacks will be better for it and, now that his medium-term future is committed to the Hurricanes, the people of Wellington will still be blessed with one Barret in their midst.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments