Neil Barnes: Assistant All Blacks Coach ahead of the Nations Championship clash against Ireland at Eden Park

Assistant coach Neil Barnes is assuring the All Blacks' pride in their record at Eden Park is intact, with Ireland in town to challenge it tomorrow night. 

The 52-test unbeaten run at the Auckland stadium has reached its 32nd year, and the team will be intending to keep it rolling in their third Nations Championship clash. 

Barnes told Mike Hosking there's a lot of history between the All Blacks and Ireland, but it’s not something they find daunting. 

He says it’s just another day at the office – one with a hell of a record to preserve, but the boys are up for it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now what do we got. We got one kicking off
at seven the other kicking off at seven thirty this weekend,
so you've got a choice issue as the Warriors played
the Dragons and the All Blacks play Ireland of course, so
when you get that bit sort of what are the
prospects for the Abs, it's the old thirty two year,
fifty two match unbeaten record at Eden Park. Neil Barnes's
assistant coaches back with us. Neil, very good morning to you,
morning mate, Very well done. I haven't talked to you

(00:23):
since you've got your job. Of course you're enjoying yourself.
Is it all working out the way you thought?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Look it's been hard work to be personally frank, but
it's like the first week. We only already had seven
or eight days to get ourselves prepared for our first
tests and we're a new management team together, so yeah,
we all worked hard. We got the result against France
was an awesome game of rugby actually, but yeah, now
we're starting to settle into a nice rhythm. So it's
been to be fair quite enjoyable this week.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Well that's encouraging. Is it getting easier per se or
more difficult given the opponents to become slightly more calcated.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, well, the obviously the challenge has gone up this
week with Ireland. They're very, very very good side with
a lot of history there between us.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So yeah, you actually get yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Up for that sort of challenge. So it's not something
that we find daunting. It's just another day at the office.
But we've got a hell of a record to preserve
and the boys are up for it.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Do you talk yourself up or is that a natural
consequence of being a professional and you would expect yourself
to be up for that anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
I don't think we ever talk ourselves up at the
end of the day. We'll let our work we do
on the field lead the way there. But yeah, we're
confident and what we can put on the field. Obviously,
we're still learning the way we're playing the game at
the moment, and we'll make a few.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Mistakes along the way. But it'd be pretty exciting to watch.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
How much time you mentioned thirty two years all of
that sort of thing. Every time that the sort of
thing comes up, the media makes a thing of it.
Do you make a thing.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
Of it other than just a hell of a record
that other people have earned, and we deserve to the
people who have gone before us, deserve us to get.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Out there and yeah, uphold it. So, yeah, it's not
something we carry us a weight. We see it as
a challenge, teed and excited about it to continue that
legacy of ground talk us.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Through the job of selecting the changes you've made, you know,
not necessarily specifically, but you made some changes. Why would
you change? What's the thinking behind that?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
You're growing players, Like at the end of the day,
some players that played the week before, there wasn't much
between two people, and somebody might play a hell of
a good game, and you might say, I, well reward that,
and sometimes you do.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
And in another.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Situation you'll say, okay, well that's great, let's give the
other guy I go now and see how he goes.
And that creates competition and performance lists as a consequence.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
What about the competition itself, Like you like the idea
of it, this part of the competition, then you go
back later in the year and all of that sort
of thing.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, any formal competition, I have no control how people
put that together.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
It's above my pay grade, but I don't mind it.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's like, at the end of the day, I treat
every individual game as a challenge and at the end
of the day, if we can get ourselves in a
position to be in a final, that would be outstanding.
So yeah, it's a bit different to a World Cup
or something like that. It's just a new competition that's
come about and we'll do our best to win it.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
I'm glad to hear you say you enjoyed the French game,
and I mean, I've enjoyed both games. But I'm sume
you read the media and then he didn't do this
and this needs to change, and we were short here
and I'm thinking, I'm sure you guys analyze yourselves because
that's what you're supposed to do, but do you enjoy it.
I mean, I've enjoyed two good games of rugby and
we won both of them. So that's sort of it,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, but we're big on paying.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
You've heard David Rennie talking about a positive brand of
rugby and we're going to look for opportunities to play
and yeah, if you don't do that, you're never going
to find out what you're capable of. So obviously there'll
be times when we have to rain it in in
some games when it's not going well for us for
the conditions don't suit. Yeah, look, we'll try and look

(04:01):
for opportunities to plan. I think that's what the public
want to see and we enjoy playing it.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
It's a good forecast too. Does that make a great
deal of difference to how you build up to it?

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Oh? Yeah, it's obviously nice to have.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
A dry ball and yeah, so you can actually get
on and play the game we want to play.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
So I can't work out what's going on with Australia.
So they squeak past Australia. This is Ireland. They squeak
past Australia, but Australia lose badly to France. So do
you learn something from Ireland and these those two games are.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Not really Yeah, obviously we do it analysis work on
those games. But you know, as sport might. At the
end of the day, there's two lots of people going out.
Then there's a whole heap of dynamics in it, and
sometimes it goes you'll war and sometimes it doesn't. But
it depends how what all would you are? I suppose
then day to be consistent?

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Good on you, well, good to catch up, go well
this weekend. I appreciate your time as always Neil Barnes,
who's the assistant coach with the All Blacks.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
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